top

noun

type of side, highest side of something
platform at the upper end of a mast on a traditional square rigged ship
person who engages in the penetrative role during sexual activity
toy designed to spin rapidly on the ground, the motion of which causes it to remain precisely balanced on its tip because of its rotational inertia
clothing worn on the upper body

L1237 on Wikidata ↗

verb

do better than
causal: provide a top for something
stative/inchoative: be the top portion

L5343 on Wikidata ↗

adjective

referring to a highest position or score

L5344 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /tɒp/ / [tʰɒp] / /tɑp/

adj

Etymology: From Middle English top, toppe, from Old English topp (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *topp, from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare typologically Latin apex (<< Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“to join, attach, fasten, fit”)). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Top (“top”), Cimbrian sòpf (“braid”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), German Topp (“top of a mast”), Zopf (“braid, pigtail, plait, top”), Luxembourgish Zapp (“plait, tress”), Vilamovian cöp (“braid, plait”), Yiddish צאָפּ (tsop, “braid”), Danish top (“top”), Icelandic toppur (“top”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish topp (“top, peak, summit, tip”), Italian zuffa (“brawl”). The sense of a spinning toy is separated from this, obscurely related to Dutch top and dop in this sense, against Standard Dutch tol, and French toupie having this sense.

Situated on the top of something.
Best; of the highest quality, fame or rank.
“She's in the top dance school.”
Very good, of high quality, power, or rank.
“He's a top lawyer.”
“That is a top car.”
Relating to the chest or breasts.
“top surgery”

adv

Best, highest.
“Our product is top-rated on all major platforms.”
“This is the top-performing school in the area.”

intj

The signal among tailors and seamstresses for snuffing the candle. The last of them to cry "top" had to snuff the candle.
“My hairs, you perceive, are grown grey in following our sublime trade: full many a time have I cried top in the winter, the first of all the gentlemen on the board; and many a time has it fallen to my lot to apply the snuffers, and take off the filthy excrescence from the candle myself, but never before, in the experience of fifty long years, was it thought that English tailors were inferior to foreign ones.”
“"Well," replied Davie, […] "a wilful woman must have her way like any man — and I doubt your patience is sorely tried, Barbara — Top!" This last expression, which may seem rather irrelevant, had direct reference to the wick of the candle, which required snuffing […]”

name

Etymology: Borrowed from Dutch and German Top.

A surname.

noun

The highest or uppermost part of something.
“His kite got caught at the top of the tree.”
“But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. […]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,[…].”
The highest or uppermost part of something.
“We flipped the machine onto its top.”
“To mount the V8, I simply placed it on its top, and then prepped the mobo/CPU for installation (applied thermal compound).”
The highest or uppermost part of something.
“Further weather information can be found at the top of your television screen.”
“Headings appear at the tops of pages.”
The highest or uppermost part of something.
“Put a top on the toothpaste tube or it will go bad.”
The highest or uppermost part of something.
“I bought this top as it matches my jeans.”
“I like this pyjama top.”
The highest or uppermost part of something.
The highest or uppermost part of something.
The highest or uppermost part of something.
“Like glauncing light of Phoebus brightest ray; From top to toe no place appeared bare”
“All the stored vengeances of Heaven fall / On her ungrateful top!”
The near end of somewhere.
“The patio is at the top of my garden.”
“The shop is at the top of my street.”
A child's spinning toy; a spinning top.
“The boy was amazed at how long the top would spin.”
Someone who is eminent.
“to be the top of zealots”
Someone who is eminent.
“to be at the top of one's class, or at the top of the school”
“And wears upon his baby brow the round / And top of sovereignty.”
A peak price of a security during a trading period, before it begins a downward trend.
“the daily average price of packer and shipper purchases ranging between $14 and $16. Beginning with the middle of September prices moved sharply upward until a top of $18.25 was reached during the week of Sept. 25. From this high point prices moved downward sharply […]”
A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay.
“As I went on doing s/m more and more, I found the idea of topping real attractive and so I started to do that. At this point in my life I'm playing top almost all the time.”
A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay.
A person who penetrates or has a preference for penetrating during intercourse.
“I prefer being a top, and my boyfriend prefers being a bottom.”
“Jean-Alain is a man of great physical strength, and Jesse is sure he is quite a handful for his tops.”
Fellatio; a blowjob.
“Running up a check, I'ma drop the top Baby gimme neck, you know I want some top You ain't tryna fuck, then baby don't just stop”
“I get some top in my coupe […] Look at yo bitch she gon' choose She gon' give me top (on my block Avenue)”
A top quark.
The utmost degree; the acme; the summit.
“June 18 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift The top of my own ambition is to contribute to that work.”
A plug or conical block of wood with longitudinal grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
Highest pitch or loudest volume.
“She sang at the top of her voice.”
“I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.”
A bundle or ball of slivers of combed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out.
“Most cotton is sold as top, requiring only predrafting prior to spinning.”
Eve; verge; point.
“Hee was upon the top of his marriage with Magdalaine.”
The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface.
Topboots.
“There was one pair of boots in particular — a jolly, good-tempered, hearty-looking, pair of tops, that excited our warmest regard”
A stroke on the top of the ball.
A forward spin given to the ball by hitting it on or near the top; topspin.
“What is wanted is just the reverse - i.e top or overspin, which causes the ball to revolve in the direction in which it is going.”
(A table at which there is, or which has enough seats for) a group of a specified number of people eating at a restaurant.
“[…] but with only three other tables on the patio apart from myself – two three-tops and a five-top – it's hard to imagine what the holdup is.”
“It is uncanny how a server can stand in front of a ten top, without the safety net of pen and paper, and remember every item ordered by each guest including salads, […]”
Ellipsis of topswarm.
“My first topswarm came off on the 25th June, and a second top on the day following; both were put into skeps of one size, and appeared to be equal as regards the number of Bees.”
The First Sergeant or Master Sergeant (U.S. Marine Corps), senior enlisted man at company level.
a shoot (eaten as a vegetable).

verb

To cover on the top or with a top.
“I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.”
To exceed in height.
“Five were proper slender youths, the eldest of whom had not yet beard full grown, black-browed and great of jaw; the sixth, huge as a neat, topped them by half a head.”
To excel, to surpass, to beat, to exceed.
“Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.”
“Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, / And my invention thrive, Edmund the base / Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper”
To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of).
“Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.”
“Liverpool topped the table on Christmas Day and, after Arsenal's win at West Ham earlier on Boxing Day, would have returned to the top had they been the first team to beat City at home this season.”
To cut or remove the top (as of a tree)
“I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair.”
“Top and tail the carrots.”
To commit suicide.
“Depression causes many people to top themselves.”
To murder or execute.
“Thirty-six were cast for death, and only one was ‘topped’ (hanged), the very one that expected to be ‘turned up’ (acquitted) for highway robbery.”
To be the dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
“I used to be a slave, but I ended up topping.”
“Giving advice to the dominant partner on how to run the BDSM session is called "topping from the bottom".”
To penetrate during sexual intercourse.
To rise aloft; to be eminent; to tower.
“topping passions”
“lofty and topping mountains”
To excel; to rise above others.
To raise one end of (a yard, etc.), making it higher than the other.
To cover with another dye.
“to top aniline black with methyl violet to prevent greening”
To put a stiffening piece or back on (a saw blade).
To arrange (fruit, etc.) with the best on top.
To strike the top of (an obstacle) with the hind feet while jumping, so as to gain new impetus.
To improve (domestic animals, especially sheep) by crossing certain individuals or breeds with other superior breeds.
To cut, break, or otherwise take off the top of (a steel ingot) to remove unsound metal.
To strike (the ball) above the centre; also, to make (a stroke, etc.) by hitting the ball in this way.