Obs. [See Note below.] An exclamation used in drinking; app. = I pledge you.
1651. Stanley, Excit. Anacreon, Poems 94. By thy tall Majestic Flaggons; By Mas, Tope, and thy Flap-dragons … To thy frolick Order call us, Knights of the deep Bowle install us.
1659. Shirley, Hon. & Mammon, V. i. 2nd Sol. To my Colonel, honest Squanderbag. (Drinks.) 1st Sol. Who wants my colonel? 2nd Sol. I want it, tope: give me ’t.
1663. Cowley, Cutter of Coleman St., II. viii. Fill us t’other Quart, That we may drink the Colonel’s Health…. Why dost thou frown, thou arrant Clown? Hey Boys—Tope.
1664. Etheredge, Love in Tub, II. iii. Lend me your hand, Sir…; here’s a good health To all that are so: Tope … here pledg me.
[Note. Generally held to be a. F. top, tope, tôpe, according to Littré ellipt. for je tope, from toper, tôper, tauper, ‘to accept a stake or wager,’ orig. a word of dice-play (cf. Littré s.v. L’un des joueurs ayant dit: mâsse dix pistoles, l’autre a dit, tôpe); hence, to accept an offer or proposal; = It. toppa ‘done!,’ a word said to signify acceptance of a bet, toppare ‘to say “done” when another offers to lay a wager’; orig. to strike against, ‘give a counter-shock’ (Florio), Sp. topar to meet, to run or strike against. Its use in drinking is cited in It. 1659 (see quot. below), and in F. in 1671 (see Littré). The Fr. tope has passed into Du. top, Ger. topp, Sw. topp, in sense ‘done!,’ ‘agreed,’ and for the acceptance of a pledge in drinking. Hence some would derive TOPE v.2 to drink deeply.
1659. Torriano, Ital. Dict., Topa, a word among Dicers, as much to say, ‘I hold it, done, throw,’ or ‘I see the By’; also by good fellows, when they are drinking: ‘I’ll pledge you.’]
