n. A tuft or crest on the apex or summit of anything, as a helmet, the head, etc.; hence, the hair of the head; especially, the forelock.n. Any bunch of hair, fibers, or filaments; specifically, in woolen-manuf., a bundle of long-staple combed wool-slivers, ready for the spinner, and weighing 1½ pounds.n. The crown of the head, or the upper surface of the head back of the forehead; the vertex or sinciput.n. The highest or uppermost part of anything; the most elevated end or point; the summit; the apex.n. Specifically— The head or upper part of a plant, especially the above-ground part of plants yielding root-crops: as, potato- tops, turnip -tops; in pharmacy, the newer growing parts of a plant.n. The upper part of a shoe. Compare def. 13 and top-boot.n. The upper end or source; head waters, as of a river.n. The upper side; the surface.n. plural The collection of a few copies of each sheet of a printed book placed on the top of a pile of such printed sheets.n. That which is first or foremost.n. That which comes first in the natural or the accepted order; the first or upper part; the head: as, the top of a page; the top of a column of figures.n. The most advanced or prominent part; the highest part, place, rank, grade, or the like.n. The crowning-point.n. The highest point or degree; pinnacle; zenith; climax.n. The highest example, type, or representative; chief; crown; consummation; acme.n. Nautical, a sort of platform surrounding the head of the lower mast on all sides.n. The cover of a carriage.n. That part of a cut gem which is between the girdle or extreme margin and the table or flat face.n. plural Buttons washed or plated with gold, silver, tin, etc., on the face or front side only: when the whole is thus treated, they are called all-overs.n. Same as top-boot: especially in the plural: as, a pair of tops.n. The end-piece of a jointed fishing-rod; the tip; also, the topping or mounting at the end of this piece, usually made of bell-metal, agate, carnelian, etc.n. A method of cheating at dice in vogue about the beginning of the eighteenth century.Being at the top; uppermost; highest; foremost; first; chief; principal.Greatest; extreme.Prime; good; capital: as, top ale.To put a top on; cap; crown.In dyeing, to cover or wash over with a different or richer color: as, to top indigo with a bright aniline, to give force and brilliancy.To place and fasten upon the back margin of (a saw-blade) a stiffening piece, or a gage for limiting the depth of a kerf; back (a saw).To reach the top of.To rise above or beyond; surmount.To pass over; leap; clear.To surpass; outdo.To take off the top of.To snuff (a candle): said also of burning off the long end of a new wick.See the quotation.Nautical, to raise one end, as of a yard or boom, higher than the other.To hang.To tup; cover.To take or toss off; drink off.To rise aloft; be eminent; tower; hence, to surpass; excel. See topping, p. a.To be of a (specified) height or top-measurement.To incline or fall with the top foremost; topple.To preen or prune one's self.See the quotation.Above.To wrestle; strive.To oppose; resist.n. Opposition; struggle; conflict.n. A children's toy of conical, ovoid, or circular shape, whether solid or hollow, sometimes of wood with a point of metal, sometimes entirely of metal, made to whirl on its point by the rapid unwinding of a string wound about it, or by lashing with a whip, or by utilizing the power of a spring.n. In rope-making, a conical block of wood with longitudinal grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
