top
//tɒp//
Forms
- Plural
- tops
- present (v1)
- top
- past (v2)
- topped
- past participle (v3)
- topped
- present participle
- topping
- 3rd person singular
- tops
Definitions
1.The highest or uppermost part of something.
- We flipped the machine onto its top.
- Headings appear at the tops of pages.
- I bought this top as it matches my jeans.
2.The near end of somewhere.
- The shop is at the top of my street.
- The patio is at the top of my garden.
3.Someone who is eminent.
- And wears upon his baby brow the round / And top of sovereignty.
- After drawing their first game in Kiev the Potters are now top of Europa League Group E ahead of back-to-back games with Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
- The criticism came from the very top of Australian politics, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggesting Thursday that Jones should try her luck with another Australian animal that was more likely to put up a fight.
4.A child's spinning toy; a spinning top.
- The boy was amazed at how long the top would spin.
1.To exceed in height.
- Five were proper slender youths, the eldest of whom had not yet beard full grown, black-browed and great of jaw; the sixth, huge as a neat, topped them by half a head.
2.To excel, to surpass, to beat, to exceed.
- Within months, sales of ONE magazine were topping 2,000 copies.
- Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.
3.To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of).
- Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.
- Liverpool topped the table on Christmas Day and, after Arsenal's win at West Ham earlier on Boxing Day, would have returned to the top had they been the first team to beat City at home this season.
4.To cover on the top or with a top.
- I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #710
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English top, toppe, from Old English topp (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *topp, from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare typologically Latin apex (<< Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“to join, attach, fasten, fit”)).