[f. TOP v.2 + -ING1.] The action of TOP v.2 Topping-lift (Naut.), each of a pair of lifts (LIFT sb.2 7) by which a yard may be topped; in quot. 1841 transf.
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 117. We made the Signal for her, by hoisting an Ensign at the Topping-Lift.
1769. Falconer, Shipwr., II. 261, note. To raise one yard-arm higher than the other … is … called topping.
1841. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., IV. 56/2. The shaft rotates in a bearing, and can be raised or lowered by means of a topping lift.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 51. The sprit-sail-gaff topping lift [is] fitted with an eye splice.
