Top v.²

Forms: 5–6 toppe, 6– top; see also TOPE v.¹ [Of uncertain origin: appears doubtfully in 1497, certainly in 1549; in regular nautical use in 1627 and onward. So mod.Du. and Ger. toppen. Possibly a special application of TOP v.¹, or an independent deriv. of TOP sb.¹; but the difficulty is increased by the synonymous TOPE v.¹ It is also possible that branch II is a distinct word; but TOPE v.¹ has also both senses.]

  I.  Naut. 1. trans. To tip up or slant (a yard), by tilting up one arm and depressing the other; sometimes = PEAK v.³, to tilt up vertically or nearly so; but sometimes more loosely, to alter the position of (a yard), whether by raising, depressing, or levelling it.

  The exact meaning in quot. 1497 is not clear; ? to shore the ship up.

[1497.  Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 249. To Retourne the seid mastes to Portesmouth where they served to toppe the Regent in the dokke at euery tyde bothe ebbe & flowde.]

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 41. Than the master cryit, top ȝour topinellis.

1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., v. 24. The Lifts are two ropes which belong to all yards armes, to top the yards; that is, to make them hang higher or lower at your pleasure.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. xv. (Roxb.), 51/1. Top the yards, that is make them hang euen.

1762–9.  Falconer, Shipwr., II. 261. Topp’d and unrigg’d, they [top-gallant yards] down the backstays run. Ibid. (1769), Dict. Marine (1789), Apiquer une vergue, to top a sail-yard, a peek it up.

1802.  Eng. Encycl., VIII. 431/1. ‘Top the yard to port!’ the order to make the larboard extremity of a yard higher than the other.

1816.  Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, ii. (1818), 39. The Portuguese vesels putting themselves in mourning by topping their yards up and down.

1844.  Hull Dock Act, 91. No vessel shall enter … except the same have her yards topped up.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. Boom, To top one’s boom, to start off.

  2.  intr. To assume a slanting position, tip up, tilt up; = TIP v.² 8.

c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 57. A martingale is sometimes used to prevent the davit from topping up.

  II.  3. intr. To fall over, or to one side, by over-balancing; to tumble head foremost; = TOPPLE v. 1, TIP v.² 7. To top over tail (cf. to towp tail over end, dial.), to turn head over heels; cf. topple up tail (TOPPLE v. 3 b).

1545.  Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 47. To tumble ouer and ouer, to toppe ouer tayle … may be also holesome for the body.

1620.  Shelton, Quix., II. xxix. 194. Don Quixote and Sancho topted [ed. 1746 top’d; (? error for topled = toppled)] into the Riuer.

  4.  trans. To tip or throw over, overturn, upset; = TOPPLE v. 3, TIP v.² 1. Obs. exc. dial.

1662.  Hibbert, Body Div., I. 135. A little ship without ballast … is soon either dasht against the rocks, or topped over.

c. 1890.  W. S. Pasmone, Song of Press Gang, iv., in Devonshire & Cornish Stories (1900), 55.