TOP 
36 
between them.—I will fetch you a toothpicker from the 
farthest inch of Asia. Shakspcare. 
TO'OTHSOME, adj. Palatable; pleasing to the taste.— 
Some are good to be eaten while young, but nothing tooth¬ 
some as they grow old. Carey. 
TO'OTHSOMENESS, s. Pleasantness to the taste. 
TO'THWORT, s. [dentaria, Lat.] A plant. Miller. 
TO'OTHY, adj. Toothed; having teeth.— The woof 
and warp unite press’d by the toothy slay. Croxall. 
TOOTING, a parish of England, in Surrey. It has a 
church of a remarkable circular form, with a low spire; and 
in the neighbourhood are many handsome houses. Popula¬ 
tion 1626; 7± miles south-south-west of London. 
TOOTING, Upper, a hamlet in the above county, ad¬ 
joining the foregoing parish, nearer London, on the road 
from Southwark to Epsom. 
TOP, a lake in the north-west of European Russia, in the 
government of Olonetz, about 44 miles in length, and 8 in 
breadth ; 256 miles north-north-west of Petrosavodsk. 
TOP, s. [cop, Saxon; top, Dutch and Danish ; toppr, a 
crest, Icelandic.] The highest part of any thing. 
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run. 
But I should think of shallows and of flats. 
And see my wealthy Andrew dock’d in sand. 
Vailing her high top lower than her ribs. Shakspeare. 
The surface ; the superficies. 
Shallow brooks that flow’d so clear, 
The bottom did the top appear. Dryden. 
The highest place.—He that will not set himself proudly 
at the top of all things, but will consider the immensity of 
this fabric, may think, that in other mansions there may be 
other and different intelligent beings. Locke. 
The highest person. 
How would you be, 
If he which is the top of judgment, should 
But judge you as you are ? Shakspeare. 
The utmost degree.—The top of my ambition is to con¬ 
tribute to that work. Pope. —The highest rank.—Take a 
boy from the top of a grammar school, and one of the 
same age bred in his father’s family, and bring them into 
good company together, and then see which of the two 
will have the more manly carriage. Locke. —The crown of 
the head. The hair on the crown of the head; the forelock. 
Let’s take the instant by the forward top; 
For we are old, and on our quick’st decrees 
The inaudible and noiseless foot of time 
Steals, ere we can effect them. Shakspeare. 
The head of a plant.— [top, Danish.] An inverted conoid 
which children set to turn on the point, continuing its mo¬ 
tion with a whip. 
As young striplings whip the top for sport 
On the smooth pavement of an empty court, 
The wooden engine flies and whirls about. 
Admir’d with clamours of the beardless rout. Dryden. 
Top is sometimes used as an adjective to express lying on 
the top, or being at the top.—The top stones laid in clay are 
kept together. Mortimer. 
To TOP, v. n. To rise aloft; to be eminent.—Those 
long ridges of lofty and topping mountains which run 
east and west, stop the evagation of the vapours to the 
north and south in hot countries. Derham. —To predomi¬ 
nate.—The thoughts of the mind, and powers of the body, 
are uninterruptedly employed that way by the determina¬ 
tions of the will, influenced by that topping uneasiness while 
it lasts. Locke. —To excel. 
But write thy best and top, and in each line 
Sir Formal’s oratory will be thine. Dryden. 
To TOP, v. a. To cover on the top; to tip; to defend 
or decorate with something extrinsic on the upper part. 
The glorious temple rear’d 
Her pile, far off appearing like a mount 
Of alabaster, topp'd with golden spires. Milton. 
TOP 
To rise above.—A gourd planted by a large pine, climb¬ 
ing by the boughs twined about them, till it topped and 
covered the tree. L'Estrange. —To outgo ; to surpass. 
He’s poor in no one fault, but stor’d with all. 
— Especially in pride. 
— And topping all others in boasting. Shakspeare. 
To crop.-— Top your rose trees a little with your knife near 
a leaf-bud. Evelyn. 
To rise to the top of. 
If ought obstruct thy course, yet stand not still, 
But wind about till thou hast topp'd the hill. Denham. 
To perform eminently : as, he tops his part. This word, 
in this sense, is seldom used but on light or ludicrous oc¬ 
casions. 
TOPACURO, a small river of Brazil, in the province of 
Seara, which runs north, and enters the Atlantic, between the 
Josavi and the Iguarasu. 
TOP ANA, a river of Peru, in the province of Canete, 
which runs west, and enters the Pacific. 
TO'PARCH, s. [toparque, old French; totto? and a.gx'l* 
Gr.] The principal man in a place.—They are not to be 
conceived potent monarchs, but toparchs, or kings of nar¬ 
row territories. Brown. 
TO'PARCHY, s. [toparchie, old French.] Command 
in a small district.—Four several kings swaying their ebony 
sceptres in each toparchy. Sir T. Herbert. 
TO'PAZ, s. [topazius, low Lat.] A yellow gem.—With 
light’s own smile the yellow topaz burns. Thomson. 
The Topaz was so called from Topazos, ‘a small island 
in the Red Sea, where the Romans formerly obtained a 
stone called by them the topaz, but which is the chry¬ 
solite of the moderns. The topaz is said to have been 
first found by Juba, king of Mauritania ; but it was known 
to the Hebrews before, as appears from the 118th Psalm. 
The most valued topazes are those of Saxony, Siberia, and 
Brazil. For its composition, see Mineralogy. 
TOPCL1FFE, a village and parish of England, North 
Riding of Yorkshire, situated on a considerable ascent, on 
the banks of the river Swale. It has a fair for cattle, which 
commences on 17th July, and continues three days: it con¬ 
tains 341 houses, and 1327 inhabitants; 5| miles south- 
south-west of Thirsk, and 24 north of the city of York. 
TOPCROFT, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 4J miles 
east-by-south of St. Mary Stratton. 
To TOPE, v.n. [topff, German, an earthen pot; top- 
pen, Dutch, to be mad. Skinner prefers the latter etymo¬ 
logy ; toper, Fr.] To drink hard ; to drink to excess. 
If you tope in form and treat, 
’Tis the sour sauce to the sweet meat, 
The fine you pay for being great. Dryden. 
TO'PER, s. A drunkard. 
But I no topers envy; for my mien 
Is always gay,' and my complexion green. Cowley. 
TOPESFIELD, a parish of England, in Essex; 4 miles 
west-north-west of Castle Hedingham. Population 712. 
TO'PFUL, adj. Full to the top; full to the brim. 
’Tis wonderful 
What may be wrought out of their discontent; 
Now that their souls are topful of offence. Shakspeare. 
TOPGA’LLANT; s. The highest sail; it was proverbially 
applied to any thing elevated, or splendid.-—A rose grew out 
of another, like honeysuckles, called top and topgallants. 
Bacon. 
TOP-GALLANT ISLES, a high and rocky island of lit¬ 
tle extent, with three rocks near it, lying off the southern 
coast of New Holland, between 134. and 135. east long. 
TOPH, or To'phus, s. [tophus, Latin.] A kind of 
sandstone. 
A native arch she drew 
With pumice and light tofusses, that grew. Sandys. 
TOPHUS, a kind of node, or swelling of the periosteum. 
Also, the sort of concretion found in the joints of gouty 
persons. 
