topdressing (topdres"ing)

A dre ing of manure laid on the surface of land: often used figuratively. His [Baron Stock mar's] Constitutional knowledge. was. only an English top - dre ing on a German soil. Gladstone , Gleanings of Past Years, I. 84. topel (top), v. i.; pret. and pp. toped, ppr. top ing. [Perhaps It. in top pare, strike against something; prob. from a Teut. source, perhaps from the root of tup or of tap2. The E. term is not connected with top1 or tip1.] To drink alcoholic liquors to exce , especially to do so habitually. If you tope in form, and treat, 'Tis the sour sauce to the sweet meat, The fine you pay for being great. Dryden, To Sir George Etherege, 1, 59. Was there ever so thirsty an elf? But he still may tope on. Hood, Don't you Smell Fire?