Also dial. towp, toup; cf. TOP v.2 [Known from 1669; of obscure origin. Synonymous with TOP v.2, which occurs much earlier; but the long o is difficult to account for.]
† 1. Naut. trans. To tilt, tip (a yard): = TOP v.2 1.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 17. Tope your Sprit-sail Yard.
2. To tilt over, cause to slope or lean to one side; to overturn, turn upside down; = TOP v.2 4. Obs. exc. dial.
1684. She-Wedding, ¶ 6, in Harl. Misc. (1810), VI. 404. When the good wives are together, toping their noses over the brandy-bottle.
1701. Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, IV. i. Here, boy.—No Nants left.—(Topes the Glass.)
1901. F. E. Taylor, Folk-sp. S. Lancs. (E.D.D.), Hoo [= she] tope’t her yed o’ one soide.
b. intr. To incline, nod, or fall to one side; to topple or fall over; to fall asleep; to die. dial.
1796. W. Marshall, Rur. Econ. Yorks. (ed. 2), Gloss., To Tawp, to heel; to towp-over; to topple.
1800. Spec Yorks. Dial., 24 (E.D.D.). T’ ows [the ox] towpt ower hedge intil a lang dyke.
1863. Brierley, Waverlow, 168. If her father would ‘just tope o’er’ [doze off, fall asleep], ere the expected signal came, she could steal out without her errand being suspected.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Towp, Towple, or Towple down, to fall over.
c. 1900. in Eng. Dial. Dict. (E. Yorks.), Old you [ewe] ’z boon te toup ower.
