Top v.¹

Also (5 toppyn), 6–7 toppe, (7 tope). [f. TOP sb.¹, in various senses.]

  I.  † 1. intr. To fight, struggle, strive. Obs.

  [For the original sense of this and its connection with that of the sb., cf. obs. Du. ‘toppen, tobben crines pugnando invadere, crinibus apprehendere’ (Kilian); Ger. zupfen, formerly zopfen to pull by the hair, pull, pluck.]

c. 1305.  Pilate, 15, in E. E. P. (1862), 111. Þat child … and pilatus also … to-gadere were ido As hi wexe hi toppede ofte, þer nas bituene hem no loue Ac þat child riȝt biȝute euer was aboue.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, vii. 577. Ac þo hy hedde ine heuene y-topped Wy nedde hy be ine helle y-stopped For evere mo.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 496/2. Toppyn, or fechte be the nekke (… P. feightyn by the nek).

  II.  To deprive of the top.

  † 2.  trans. To cut off (the hair of the head), poll (the head), crop (a person). Obs.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl. (Kölbing), 7715. For diol he topped of his hare And him self tobete and tare.

14[?].  Beryn, 2917. Getith a peir sisours, sherith my berd … And aftirward lete top my hede.

1632.  Star Chamb. Cases (Camden), 112. Lord Privy Seale … found great fault with his long ruffian-like haire, and would have topped him if the vote of the Court had been for it.

  3.  To cut off the top of (a growing tree, a plant, or the like); to poll or pollard (a tree); to lop, prune, or shorten back (branches or shoots); to cut or break off the head, flower, or ear of (a plant), the withered calyx from (a gooseberry or other fruit); often in phr. to top and lop, top and tail.

1509.  Brasenose Coll. Doc., C² 40. He shall toppe ne byhede Elme Asshe ne Oke.

1616.  MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb. Payd for toping of treses.

1637.  Earl Monm., trans. Malvezzi’s Romulus & Tarq., 225. Hee tops off the heads of the highest flowers.

1649.  Lovelace, Grass-hopper, iv. Sharpe frosty fingers all your Flow’rs have topt.

1688.  J. Clayton, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 982. They top their Tobacco, that is, take away the little top-bud.

1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, I. 58. Topping and Tailing is the clearing both ends of the hemp with the hatchell.

1824.  L. M. Hawkins, Mem., etc. II. 52. A gentleman … was topping and tailing gooseberries for wine.

1894.  R. H. Elliot, Gold, Sport, etc., in Mysore, 387. Some planters top [the coffee trees] at from three to three and a half feet.

  b.  transf. and fig., or in fig. context.

1605.  1st Pt. Ieronimo, III. ii. Ile top thy head for that ambitious word.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., X. xxii. Topping rank desires which vain exceed.

1690.  Locke, Govt., I. vi. (Rtldg.), 60. Just as Procrustes did with his guests, top or stretch them.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, vii. Those prejudices of society which lop and top from poor handmaidens all such genteel excrescences.

  † 4.  To snuff (a candle). Obs.

1594.  Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 50. The candle … after it is newly topped.

1607.  Middleton, Your Five Gallants, I. i. Top the candle, sirrah.

1785.  Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., Top, the signal among taylors for snuffing the candles.

1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, xxii. Let us top this glim a bit.

  5.  To pare off the surface soil of (land).

1638.  A. Cant, Serm., in Kerr, Covenants & Cov. (1895), 120. The mountain must not be pared or topped.

  6.  To put to death by hanging; perh. originally to behead; cf. TOPSMAN. slang.

1811.  Lexicon Balatr., s.v., The cove was topped for smashing queer screens.

1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), III. 387/1. Thirty-six were cast for death, and only one was ‘topped.’

1904.  A. Griffiths, 50 Y. Public Service, xxii. 337. [One] hoped the day would be fine when he was to be topped.

  7.  To shorten the teeth of (a toothed or cog-wheel, etc.); cf. TOPPER sb.¹ 1.

1874.  [implied in TOPPER sb.¹ 1].

1884.  F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 74. Very slightly top the wheel by holding a piece of Arkansas stone against the teeth. Ibid., 152. If the lockings are too deep … the wheel is too large and should be topped.

  III.  To put a top on or form a top to.

  8.  To furnish with a top; to put a top on; to cover or surmount, crown, cap (with). Also fig. Cf. sense 16, with which this sometimes blends.

1581.  A. Hall, Iliad, VII. 133. When as their towres they topt aloft, and rampires great did raise.

1583.  Melbancke, Philotimus, U iij b. I suppose that … Nanes and Dwarfes muste needes be topped with such heades.

1679.  O. Heywood, Diaries, etc. (1881), II. 188. To Roger Stocks, topping orchard wal.

1705.  Addison, Italy, Tirol, 527. The little Notredame … topp’d with a Cupola.

1864.  Burton, Scot Abr., I. v. 294. The practice … of topping the flanking round towers with conical roofs.

  9.  To complete by putting the top on, or forming the top of (a stack, etc.): often to top up; hence (colloq.) to put the finishing touch to (a process); to finish off, round off, crown.

1504.  [see TOPPING vbl. sb.¹ 1 a].

1641.  Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 35. The other comming behinde with a rake, to correckt, toppe up, and finish the cocke [of hay].

1787.  M. Cutler, in Life, etc. (1888), I. 231. Her [Mrs. Knox’s] hair in front is craped at least a foot high, much in the form of a churn bottom upward, and topped off with a wire skeleton in the same form covered with black gauze, which hangs in streamers down to her back.

1837.  W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, I. 162. The chiefs leading the van, the braves following in a long line, painted and decorated, and topped off with fluttering plumes.

1872.  O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf.-t., ii. He has topped off his home training with a … foreign finish.

1892.  Cornh. Mag., Oct., 363. One [governess] grounded and another topped.

1903.  Morley, Gladstone, III. VIII. xii. 217. The sea voyage that was to ‘top up’ the rest and the treatment.

  b.  absol. or intr. To finish up or off, wind up, conclude (with something). colloq.

1836.  J. H. Newman, Lett., 15 April (1891), II. 189. Before they would venture to top up with such a … startling enunciation.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. We had the usual southeaster … and finally topped off with a drenching rain of three or four hours.

1848.  Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxxix. They absorb pale-ale…, and top-up with glasses of strong waters.

1870.  Daily News, 6 Oct. Then you … find the inmates of another room topping off with chocolate or coffee.

1885.  Rider Haggard, K. Solomon’s Mines, i. Everything went wrong that trip, and to top up with I got the fever badly.

  c.  To top (up) one’s fruit, punnet, etc., to put the best fruit on the top of the basket, punnet, etc. Market slang.

1888.  [see TOPPING vbl. sb.¹ 1 a].

1891.  Brit. Workman, Aug. I mean … that you’re a topper…. You’ve been topping your punnets.

1896.  Jrnl. R. Hortic. Soc., Nov., 209. A grower who does not top up his fruit deserves to be canonised.

  10.  trans. a. Dyeing. To give a final bath of color to; to finish off (a dyeing process) with a certain dye. b. To top-dress land. c. To stain the tips of the hair of (fur).

1856.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XVII. I. 188. A friend of mine always tops from 1¹/₂ to 2 cwt. [of salt] per acre before ploughing the clover leys.

1874.  Crookes, Dyeing & Calico-Print., 526. Such increase of oxalic acid is not recommended for topping blacks.

1875.  F. J. Bird, Dyer’s Handbk., 35. Top-off with serge blue to shade.

1882.  Crookes, Dyeing & Tissue-Print., 118. Lift, and top in a fresh water with magenta and a little alum.

1910.  W. Parker, in Encycl. Brit., XI. 352/2. The paler skins from all districts in Siberia are now cleverly coloured or ‘topped,’ that is, just the tips of the hair are stained dark.

  † 11.  To ‘cover,’ copulate with. Cf. TUP v. Obs. rare.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 396. Would you the super-vision grossely gape on? Behold her top’d? Ibid., V. ii. 136. Æmil. Oh she was heauenly true. Oth. Cassio did top her: Ask thy husband else.

1633.  Ford, Love’s Sacr., III. i. Oh, for three Barbary stone-horses to top three Flanders mares!

  IV.  To exceed or come up to in height.

  12.  trans. To exceed in height; to overtop; also to exceed in weight, amount, number, etc.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 50. Two serpents … charg Laocoon … His neck eke chayning with tayls, hym in quantitye topping.

1686.  Plot, Staffordsh., 380. When they come to top them, [they] will quickly shade, and so kill them.

1747.  Gentl. Mag., Dec., 589/1. The sea ran so high at Rotterdam, as to top two stories of many houses.

1760.  R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 82. White oats … come up sooner, and top the weeds better than black.

1867.  F. Francis, Angling, iii. (1880), 57. Many of them topped two pounds.

1887.  Besant, The World went, ix. She was so tall that she topped her father … by a head.

1901.  Daily Express, 21 March, 5/4. Thames … topped the Trinity high water mark by 3¹/₂ feet.

  b.  To surpass, excel, outdo; to cap.

1586.  Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., II. iii. But, when you see his actions top his speech Your speech will stay.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., II. i. 23. Topping all others in boasting.

1787.  Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 55. A measure, if possible, to top the former.

1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, III. v. [One] who for fun and humour seemed to top them all.

  13.  To rise above; to mount beyond the level of.

1773.  Poetry, in Ann. Reg., 233. Another bird, just flushing at the sound, Scarce tops the fence, then tumbles to the ground.

1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., xviii. My head topped the platform of rock.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 159. At last the low sun topped the garden-wall.

1883.  Century Mag., XXVI. 376. The sun was just topping the maples when [etc.].

  b.  To get or leap over the top of, to surmount.

1735.  Somerville, Chase, II. 164. With Emulation fir’d They … top the barr’s Gate, O’er the deep Ditch exulting bound.

1826.  Sporting Mag., XVII. 242. Topping a high paling, he makes play over the country.

1835.  Sir G. Stephen, Adv. Search Horse, xvi. 241. Many a little horse will top a fence that he cannot put his nose over.

  14.  To reach the top of, ascend to the top of.

1600.  W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 75. Their harts were inflamed with flashes of conspiracies, how to top the highest place.

a. 1668.  Denham, Of Prudence, Poems 157. Wind about, till thou have topp’d the Hill.

1775.  Burke, Sp. Conc. Amer., Wks. III. 63. Already they have topped the Apalachian mountains.

1807.  J. Barlow, Columb., I. 204. The sun’s blue ray Topt unknown cliffs and call’d them up to day.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., vi. A pale yellow line, seen only as they topped a wave.

1886.  Corbett, Fall of Asgard, I. 61. As they topped the crags that overhung the tarn.

  15.  Theatr. To top one’s part, to play one’s part to its utmost possibilities or to perfection; also, to transcend the character assigned to one; transf. to sustain (a character) with success. To top the officer (Naut.): see quot. 1867.

1672.  Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Rehearsal, III. i. (Arb.), 71. He does not hit me in’t: he does not top his part.

1697.  Dennis, Plot & no Plot, A iij. But are you sure, Daughter, that you can act a fit of the Mother well?… Ay, and top my part too, Mother.

1751.  Churchill, Rosciad, 46. Palmer! Oh! Palmer tops the janty part.

1786.  Earl Malmesbury, Diaries & Corr., II. 219. Warm as I am in wishing to see her [England] once more topping her part on the Continent.

1797.  Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Beggar Girl (1813), IV. 212. Delighted to be queen of the company where she might top the great personage.

1827.  Hare, Guesses, Ser. II. (1848), 72. By diligently performing the part assigned to him, by topping it, as the phrase is.

1831.  Examiner, 177/1. The Opposition … are acting up to their character—nay, topping their parts.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, lii. I’ve been hail-fellow well met with the ship’s company so long, that I can’t top the officer over them.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Top the officer, to, to arrogate superiority.

  16.  To be at the top of, constitute the top of. (In literal sense often running together with 8.) Also fig. to be the first, chief, or best of, to be at the head of, to take the lead in.

1615.  G. Sandys, Trav., 42. Rhodope still topt with snow.

1629.  Wadsworth, Pilgr., iii. 14. A Dormitory, which containes three long Galleries topping the house.

1707.  Reflex. upon Ridicule, 21. They kindle against such as will be Topping and Monopolizing the Conversation.

a. 1734.  North, Lives (1826), I. 46. His youthful habits were never gay, or topping the mode.

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 12. The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill.

1802.  Mrs. J. West, Infidel Father, xvii. II. 208. It came in two winters ago for very high ladies to stand godmothers to the natural children of all their relations. Lady Random topped the fashion.

1850.  Blackie, Æschylus, II. 160. Mount the battlements: Top every tower; crown every parapet.

1861.  Dixon, Pers. Hist. Ld. Bacon, xii. § 7. In character as in intellect Bacon tops the list.

  b.  To have the supremacy over; to get the better of.

1633.  Shirley, Gamester, III. ii. I’ll … send my nephew; he shall top and top him, And scourge him like a top too.

1681.  Hickeringill, Black Non-Conf., ii. Wks. 1716, II. 18. Legions of Lordly Priests and Cardinals that topt the whole world.

1832.  Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. xxii. 462. Our aversion from the sanction tops the conflicting wish.

  † c.  intr. To have the supremacy. Obs. rare^–1.

1718.  W. Wright, in Wodrow’s Corr. (1843), II. 353. But … the magistrates … were in as great danger as ever, for now the Cocceians begin to top.

  V.  Idiomatic uses, and phrases. (Chiefly slang.)

  † 17.  a. Dice-play. trans. and intr. To retain one of the dice at the top of the box by unfair manipulation, to palm the die: cf. TOP sb.¹ 20; hence, to cheat, trick (a person). Obs.

1663.  [see TOPPING vbl. sb.¹ 1 c].

1671.  [implied in TOPPER sb.¹ 1 b].

1678.  Dryden, Limberham, IV. i. I think in my Conscience he’s Palming and Topping … before he comes into the World.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Top, to Cheat, or Trick any one; also to Insult. What do you Top upon me? do you stick a little Wax to the Dice to keep them together, to get the Chance? He thought to have Topt upon me, he design’d to have … Sharpt me,… or Affronted me.

1726.  [see TOPPING vbl. sb.¹ 1 c].

  † b.  intr. To practise cheating or trickery; to impose upon; in quots. 1697, 1709, with mixture of sense ‘to encroach or obtrude upon.’ Obs.

1664.  Etherege, Com. Revenge, II. iii. How neatly I could tope upon him!

1676.  Shadwell, Virtuoso, I. i. A Rascal … that would Slur and top upon our Understandings.

1697.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., I. (1709), 49. When a Man finds his Hopes disappointed, himself unsupported, and topp’d upon by Persons of meaner Pretences and Employments.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, To Passe upon one, to top upon him, or impose upon him. Ibid. [see a above].

1709.  J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade M., II. p. lxxxvii. Patriarchs … did, in the latter end of the 4th, and in the 5th century top upon the Metropolitans, and reduced many great Provinces with their Bishops under the direction of one. Ibid., 118. They were still growing and topping upon their neighbours.

  † c.  trans. To impose (a thing) upon a person; to foist, fob off, palm off upon. Obs.

1672–5.  Comber, Comp. Temple (1702), 558. It is no less than Blasphemy to Top a device of Men upon the People whom they were to lead into all Truth.

1682.  T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 73. (1713), II. 199. ’Tis but topping upon ’em a Sermon now and then about Mortification.

1712.  in Somers, Tracts (1815), XIII. 211. As to the topping a king upon the throne of Spain, so by the same reason the king of France by his power may top the Pretender on England.

1733.  Revolution Politicks, II. 63. The Pope and his Jesuits … were going to top Popery and Slavery upon us in good earnest.

  † d.  To insult. Obs. slang.

a. 1700.  [see a above].

1785.  Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., Top,… to insult.

  † e.  trans. To oppose. Cf. in tops with (TOP sb.¹ 22). Obs. rare^–1.

1641.  R. Baillie, Lett. (1841), I. 390. Whill Argyle topes this nomination, as of a man unmeet, because of irresponsableness to the law for his debts.

  18.  a. To top a ball (Golf), to hit the ball above its center; so to top one’s drive, to top. b. To top a clout (Thieves’ slang): see quot. c. To top the deck (Card-sharping): to cause a particular card to fall on the top of the pack. d. To top a saw (U.S.): to fix a stiffening piece or a gauge for limiting the depth of the cut (Cent. Dict.).

  a.  1881.  Forgan, Golfer’s Handbk., 24. For ball I when struck will be ‘topped’ with the result of lacerating the turf.

1889.  Scott. Leader, 20 April, 6. He who never, or hardly ever, ‘tops’ a ball does not undergo the temptations to cast all his clubs into the whins.

1893.  A. Lang, in Longm. Mag., April, 652. My cleek seems merely made to top.

1894.  Times, 28 April, 13/3. Playing to the first hole Mr. L—— topped his drive, and Mr. B—— won the hole in 4 to 5.

  b.  1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Top, to top a clout or other article (among pickpockets) is to draw the corner or end of it to the top of a person’s pocket, in readiness for … taking out, when a favourable moment occurs.

  c.  1894.  Maskelyne, Sharps & Flats, v. 83. [The cuff holdout] is a neat invention to top the deck. Ibid., 86. The cards are simply slipped between the jaws, where they are held until required. The hands being crossed … the lever is pressed and the cards fall upon the top of the pack…. This operation is termed technically ‘topping the deck.’