TOP, n.

1. The highest part of any thing; the upper end, edge or extremity; as, the top of a tree; the top of a spire; the top of a house; the top of a mountain.
2. Surface; upper side; as, the top of the ground.
3. The highest place; as, the top of preferment. Locke. Swift.
4. The highest person; the chief. Shak.
5. The utmost degree. The top of my ambition is to contribute to that work. Pope. If you attain the top of your desires in fame. Pope.
6. The highest rank. Each boy strives to be at the top of his class, or at the top of the school.
7. The crown or upper surface of the head. Shak.
8. The hair on the crown of the head; the forelock. Shak.
9. The head of a plant. Watts.
10. [G. topf.] An inverted conoid which children play with by whirling it on its point, continuing the motion with a whip. Shak.
11. In ship-building, a sort of platform, surrounding the head of the lower mast and projecting on all sides. It serves to extend the shrouds, by which means they more effectually support the mast; and in ships of war, the top furnishes a convenient stand for swivels and small arms to annoy the enemy. Cyc.

1. To rise aloft; to be eminent; as, lofty ridges and topping mountains. Derham.
2. To predominate; as, topping passions; topping uneasiness.
3. To excel; to rise above others. But write thy best and top. Dryden.

1. To cover on the top; to tip; to cap. A mount / Of alabaster, topp'd with golden spires. Milton. Mountains topp'd with snow. Waller.
2. To rise above. A gourd – climbing by the boughs twined about them, till it topp'd and covered the tree. L'Estrange. Topping all others in boasting. Shak.
3. To outgo; to surpass.
4. To crop; to take off the top or upper part. Top your rose-trees a little with your knife near a leaf-bud. Evelyn. So in America we say, to top corn, that is maiz, by cutting off the stalk just above the ear.
5. To rise to the top of; as, he topped the hill. Denham.
6. To perform eminently. [Not in use.]

1. A child's toy, commonly in the form of a conoid or pear, made to spin on its point, usually by drawing off a string wound round its surface or stem, the motion being sometimes continued by means of a whip.
2. The highest part of anything; the upper end, edge, or extremity; the upper side or surface; summit; apex; vertex; cover; lid; as, the top of a spire; the top of a house; the top of a mountain; the top of the ground.
   
   

   The star that bids the shepherd fold,
   Now the top of heaven doth hold. Milton.

3. To rise aloft] to be eminent; to tower; as, lofty ridges and topping mountains.
   
   
   Derham.
4. To cover on the top; to tip; to cap; -- chiefly used in the past participle.
   
   

   Like moving mountains topped with snow. Waller.

   A mount
   Of alabaster, topped with golden spires. Milton.

5. A stroke on the top of the ball.
   
   
   (b)
6. To cover with another dye; as, to top aniline black with methyl violet to prevent greening and crocking.
7. To strike a ball above the center.
8. A plug, or conical block of wood, with longitudital grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
9. The utmost degree; the acme; the summit.
   
   

   The top of my ambition is to contribute to that work. Pope.

10. To predominate; as, topping passions.
    
    
    "Influenced by topping uneasiness." Locke.
11. To rise above; to excel; to outgo; to surpass.
    
    

    Topping all others in boasting. Shak.

    Edmund the base shall top the legitimate. Shak.

12. To put a stiffening piece or back on (a saw blade).
13. To rise at one end, as a yard; -- usually with up.
14. The highest rank; the most honorable position; the utmost attainable place; as, to be at the top of one's class, or at the top of the school.
    
    

    And wears upon his baby brow the round
    And top of sovereignty. Shak.

15. To excel; to rise above others.
    
    

    But write thy, and top. Dryden.

16. To rise to the top of; to go over the top of.
    
    

    But wind about till thou hast topped the hill. Denham.

17. To arrange, as fruit, with the best on top.
    
    
    [Cant]
18. The chief person; the most prominent one.
    
    

    Other . . . aspired to be the top of zealots. Milton.

19. To take off the or upper part of; to crop.
    
    

    Top your rose trees a little with your knife. Evelyn.

20. To strike the top of, as a wall, with the hind feet, in jumping, so as to gain new impetus; -- said of a horse.
21. The crown of the head, or the hair upon it; the head.
    
    
    "From top to toe" Spenser.

    All the stored vengeance of Heaven fall
    On her ungrateful top ! Shak.

22. To perform eminently, or better than before.
    
    

    From endeavoring universally to top their parts, they will go universally beyond them. Jeffrey.

23. To improve (domestic animals, esp. sheep) by crossing certain individuals or breeds with other superior.
24. The head, or upper part, of a plant.
    
    

    The buds . . . are called heads, or tops, as cabbageheads. I. Watts.

25. To raise one end of, as a yard, so that that end becomes higher than the other.
    
    

    To top off, to complete by putting on, or finishing, the top or uppermost part of; as, to top off a stack of hay; hence, to complete; to finish; to adorn.

26. To raise one end of, as a yard, so that that end becomes higher than the other.
27. A platform surrounding the head of the lower mast and projecting on all sudes. It serves to spead the topmast rigging, thus strengheningthe mast, and also furnishes a convenient standing place for the men aloft.
    
    
    Totten.
28. To cut, break, or otherwise take off the top of (a steel ingot) to remove unsound metal.
29. A bundle or ball of slivers of comkbed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out.
30. To strike (the ball) above the center; also, to make (as a stroke) by hitting the ball in this way.
31. Eve; verge; point.
    
    
    [R.] "He was upon the top of his marriage with Magdaleine." Knolles.
32. The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface.
    
    
    Knight.
33. Top-boots.
    
    
    [Slang] Dickens.

    * Top is often used adjectively or as the first part of compound words, usually self-explaining; as, top stone, or topstone; top-boots, or top boots; top soil, or top-soil.

    Top and but (Shipbuilding), a phrase used to denote a method of working long tapering planks by bringing the but of one plank to the top of the other to make up a constant breadth in two layers. -- Top minnow (Zoöl.), a small viviparous fresh-water fish (Gambusia patruelis) abundant in the Southern United States. Also applied to other similar species.