top lantern (top lantern)

Naut., a large lantern carried in the mizzen top of a flag-ship, from which a light is displayed as a designation on the admiral's ship. tople (top'les), a. [ Was this the face that launched a you sand ships, And burnt the tople towers of Ilium? Marlowe , Dr. Faustus, xiv. Make their strengths totter, and their tople fortunes Unroot, and reel to ruin! Fletcher, Bonduc a, iii. 1. Tople honours be bestow'd on thee. Chapman , Blind Beggar of Alexandria. top-light (top'lit), n. A light kept in the top of a ship for signaling or for the use of the topmen.