[f. TOP v.1 + -ING2.] That tops, in various senses of TOP v.1
1. lit. That exceeds in height; very high. Obs.
1681. Hickeringill, Vind. Naked Truth, II. 4. I never heard of a King shut out even from the Topping-Pulpit, if he had a mind to climb so high.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 205. Chains of lofty and topping Mountains.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. v. 48. Every little Domine (when mounted over our heads in the topping Pulpit) is as positive … and pragmatical, as any Woman.
2. fig. Very high or superior in position, rank, degree, amount, or estimation; chief, principal; preeminent, distinguished; overhanging; ‘towering.’
c. 1685. Dk. Buckhm., Conference, Wks. 1705, II. 51. She was able to buy out her Lease, and is now the Topping Dame of the Parish.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxi. § 38. All the thoughts of the mind … are uninterruptedly employed that way,… influenced by that topping uneasiness.
1698. J. Crull, Muscovy, 306. The topping Saint of all Muscovy for Miracles, is one Sergius.
1703. E. Ward, Lond. Spy, V. (1706), 119. More Money … than the Topping’st Taylor in Town ever got by a Young Heir.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1720), II. iv. 48. Some of the topping Sinners of the World. Ibid., xxii. 319. Wheresoever in any topping degree it finds them.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., iii. 46. Just as men learn rules in arithmetic … and grow very ready and topping in the use of them.
1840. Mrs. F. Trollope, Widow Married, v. Taking her to court, and to a few other topping places.
1893. Daily News, 6 June, 7/3. Some prime animals which took the topping rates of the day’s trade.
1893. Kate D. Wiggin, Cathedral Courtship, 3. Fondness for the very toppingest High Church ritual.
b. Ironically used; cf. ‘fine,’ ‘pretty.’
1693. Sir T. P. Blount, Nat. Hist., Pref. 5. Let these high-flown Topping Sparks, swell and strut as much as they please.
1906. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), A vj, Some … topping Dawber of Sign-Posts.
1847. Alb. Smith, Chr. Tadpole, xix. One of those topping gents you see in the slips of the play-houses at half price.
3. Of high quality; very fine, excellent; tip-top, first-rate. colloq. and slang.
1822. Galt, Provost, xlvi. Instead of being drowned … in debt, it might have been in the most topping way.
1841. Lever, C. O’Malley, lxix. We came on at a topping pace.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxiii. He may have made topping averages in first-rate matches of cricket.
4. Domineering; confident, boastful. U.S.
1885. M. E. Wilkins, in Harper’s Mag., March, 595/1. He was awful toppin’ at first.
1890. Howells, in Harper’s Mag., LXXX. April, 769/1. ‘I never saw such nerve. It was superb.’ ‘Perhaps a little topping,’ I suggested. ‘Yes, perhaps a little topping,’ the doctor consented. ‘But still, it was a toppingness that could have consisted only with the most perfect conscience, the most absolute freedom from self-reproach in every particular.’
5. Swelling into crested billows; crested.
1857. W. Cook, in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858), V. 42. The sea … changed to a kind of boil, or topping sea, as if surged up from beneath.
6. quasi-adv. = next.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1860/8. [He] rides very topping, and hath all his paces. Ibid. (1694), No. 2959/4. A Bay Nag,… carries his head very topping. Ibid. (1706), No. 4209/4. A very dark bay Gelding…, lean, but rides bold and topping.
