top

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a garment, especially for women, that extends from the shoulders to the waist or hips

   I buttoned my top.

2. 2
   noun

   covering for a hole, especially a hole in the top of a container

   We removed the top of the carton.

3. 3
   noun

   a conical child's plaything tapering to a steel point on which it can be made to spin

   They got a bright red top and string to play with for their birthday.

4. 4
   noun

   the greatest possible intensity

   I screamed at the top of my lungs.

5. 5
   noun

   the top or extreme point of something, usually a mountain or hill

   After hiking all day, we were rewarded with the view from the top.

6. 6
   noun

   the highest or uppermost side of anything

   put your books on top of the desk

7. 7
   noun

   the upper part of anything

   the mower cuts off the tops of the grass

8. 8
   verb

   finish up or conclude

   They topped off their dinner with a cognac

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”)). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Top (“top”), Cimbrian sòpf (“braid”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), German Topp (“top of a mast”), Zopf (“braid, pigtail, plait, top”), Luxembourgish Zapp (“plait, tress”), Vila…