a. The sawyer who works the upper handle of a pit-saw; cf. TOPMAN1 4 a, pit-sawyer (PIT sb.1 14), and SAW-PIT. Hence, b. fig. One who holds a superior position; the best man. c. loosely. A first-rate band at something; a distinguished person.
a. 1823. Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T., Top-sawyer, signifies a man that is a master genius in any profession. It is a piece of Norfolk slang, and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber country, where the top sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them.
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, ii. The top-sawyer had been graciously pleased to toss his arms up and down over the pit—not of destruction but of preservation.
b. 1826. Sporting Mag., XVIII. 215. To ascertain which of two competitors is top-sawyer.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xxxvi. ‘See-saw is the fashion of England always, and the Whigs will soon be the top-sawyers.’ ‘But,’ said I,… ‘the King is the top-sawyer, according to our proverb; how then can the Whigs be?’
c. 1823. [see a].
1829. Sporting Mag., XXIII. 412. Many a top-sawyer will speedily give me ‘the go by.’
1854. Thackeray, Newcomes, xv. How he had paid the post-boys, and travelled with a servant like a top-sawyer.
1880. Disraeli, Endym., xxxiii. There are some top-sawyers here to-day, Ferrars!
So Top-sawing vbl. sb., top-sawyer’s work.
1894. Times, 11 Sept., 16/7. A decayed wheelwright who had done top-sawing in his young days.
