East Indies. [ad. Tamil tōppu, Telugu tōpu.] A clump, grove, or plantation of trees; in Upper India, chiefly of fruit-trees; esp. a mango grove or orchard.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 41. The Country is … plentiful in Provisions; in all Places Topes of Trees.
1792. Q. Crauford, Sk. Hindoos (ed. 2), II. 104, note. Topes are very frequent, and some … containing perhaps 100 acres of land.
1826. Soldier’s Album, 82. The word ‘tope’ means clump…. We encamped nightly in the topes of Mangoe trees.
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 233/1. The ‘toddy topes,’ or coco-nut tree orchards, are very extensive in Ceylon.
