Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK black) out of control.

2018-20

T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 On top - out of control.

(US) to go mad.

1969

‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 278: You better see a head-shrinker. You’r slipping your top.

1. drunk.

1678		J. Ray Proverbs (2nd edn) 87: Proverbiall Periphrases of one drunk. He’s disguised [...] He is top-heavy.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Top-heavy Drunk.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1726		Select Trials at Old Bailey (1742) III 54: I had been fuddling with some Friends at the King’s Arms Tavern at Charing-Cross, till I was grown Top heavy.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1770		Gent.’s Mag. 559: To express the condition of an Honest Fellow, and no Flincher, under the Effects of good Fellowship, it is said that he is [...] Top-heavy.
1771		General Eve. Post (London) 13 Aug. n.p.: [A young gentleman] who happened to get a little top heavy [...] strayed into a dark room [etc.].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1804		C.L. Lewes Comic Sketches 26: While others would say he had, ‘Bung’d his eye — Was knocked up — How came ye so — Had got his little hat on — Top-Heavy — Pot- Valiant — That he had been in the sun — That he was iBarrettn for it’.
1815		Examiner 13 Aug. 7/1: He bought half a gallon of rum. He had a hearty booze before he left the ship, so that when he came on shore he was rather top-heavy.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1827		J. Wight More Mornings in Bow St. 238: Mrs Donaghue was heaviest at top — for she’d got a drop in it that time.
1838		Paul Pry 30 Sept. 182/1: Unfortunately they drank together, and the victim being a little top-heavy [etc].
1840		Tasmanian Wkly Dispatch (Hobart, Tas.) 10 Jan. 6/4: A constable met a poor fellow, a little top heavy, and says, ‘Why you are in it, I must take you up’.
1842		Manchester Courier 5 Mar. 3/2: Drunk— [...] Top-heavy [...] Wound up.
1848		Sinks of London Laid Open 87: A gemman rather top heavy.
1853		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 Oct. 2/5: An elderly female [was] charged with being ‘top-heavy’.
a.1856		Burlington Sentinel in Hall (1856) 461: We give a list of a few of the various words and phrases which have been in use, at one time or another, to signify some stage of inebriation: [...] top-heavy.
1864		London Standard 13 Dec. 3/3: A higher more intense state of beastliness [...] Out [...] Ploughed [...] Top Heavy.
1866		Letters by an Odd Boy 160: ’ I see a man that I should say was drunk; he is boozy, screwed, stewed, tight, lumpy, ploughed, muddied, obfuscated, top-heavy, with three sheets in the wind!
1871		Sportsman (London) ‘Notes on News’ 18 Jan. 2/1: [T]he seductive influence of rum, even so much as ‘two small drops’ if that quantity to them top-heavy.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 107: He didn’t forget to take a drop himself, bein’ of a natchurably sociable ’sposition and most in general a bit top-heavy when I seen him.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 87: Top Heavy, intoxicated.
1902		Eve. Post (Dundee) 11 Apr. 2/5: Caught Top Heavy [...] Copper was apprehended in Tindal’s Wynd for drunkeness.
1906		Salt Lake City (UT) 30 Mar. 4/5: He is [...] top-heavy.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 237: My pitch is about the Angel, and a very hot pitch it is, too, ’specially Sat’day nights, when the young toffs [...] get a bit topheavy.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 4/6: How did RJG come to knock over the tree. Was he top heavy or ‘Foo de Noo’.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.
1933		(con. WWI) F. Richards Old Soldiers Never Die (1964) 106: The majority a little top-heavy and [...] as happy as birds.
1942		Hull Dly Mail 5 Sept. 4/6: The Magistrate [...] asked how much drink the accused had had. ‘Well, sir,’ replied the constable, ‘ he was not top-heavy’.
1951		Sligo Champion 25 Aug. 6/1: You can be [...] ‘flustered,’ ‘tipsy,’ ‘top-heavy’.

2. of a woman, thin, other than having large breasts.

1956

‘James Updyke’ [W.R. Burnett] It’s Always Four O’Clock 110: [S]ome top-heavy old dame—you know, pillow chest, skinny legs—grabbed him and hugged and kissed him.

1. the head; the scalp.

1848		G.F. Ruxton Life in the Far West (1849) 22: ‘Is the top-knot gone, boy? [...] for my head feels queersome, I tell you.’ ‘Thar’s the Ingun as felt like lifting it,’ answered the other, kicking the dead body.
1869		E. Waugh Tufts of Heather 109: He’s gone through St. Peter’s needle has owd Bill. An I doubt it’s unsattle’t his top-knot a bit .
1898		Boy’s Own Paper 1 Oct. 26: I rushed on deck after them, and just succeeded in grabbing one by his woolly top-knot.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 19: I had enough bum French in my topknot to start one of those sit-back-hold-tight table d’hote places.
1918		B.E.F. Times 22 Jan. (2006) 291/1: A tin lid, which we fasten on our top-knobs with a strap under the food-grinder.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 80: You write the Empire and tell ’em to get cash for those lambs and in everything else to work their own topknots.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 98: I endeavoured to soothe her with a kindly pat on the topknot.

2. the hair.

1858

Bell’s Life in Sydney 3 July 3/3: The kids [...] used to call him ‘Ginger’ on account of the colour of his top-knot.

see under deal v.

(US) from the beginning, at the start; often as take it from the top, to start at the beginning.

1955		S. Allen Bop Fables 47: She is the swingin’est, but let’s take it from the top again.
1964		L. Hansberry Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window in Three Negro Plays (1969) I ii: I want to tell you from the top, Mavis. This is not a good time.
1972		M. Rodgers Freaky Friday 61: OK, we’ll take it from the top very slowly.

(UK Und.) to break into houses using entry via an upper window.

1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 143: Going on the Top or Hoist, that is, breaking into a House in the dark Evening, by getting in at a Window one Story high.
1718		C. Hitchin Regulator 20: To go upon the Top, alias that is for two Priggs to see a one pair of Stairs Window open, and the one to get upon the others Shoulders, and so go in.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxvii: To go upon the Tap [sic] Is when two Prigs are together, one gets upon the other’s Shoulders, and so enters a Chamber-window.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving [as cit. 1768].

to do something dangerous or remarkable, esp. to get over-excited or angry; to excede expectations.

1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 4: A daring Constable and a willing Posse went Over the Top and captured the Supply.
1961		K. Williams Diaries 12 Jan. 168: She is a lovely girl, but doesn’t quite go over the top like Maggie S. I suppose Maggie can because of a fundamental hysteria – S.H. hasn’t got this.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 213: No need to go over the top.
1999		Observer Business 25 July 6: There is, however, no need to go over the top.
2012		D. Spivey ‘If You Were Only White’ 50: The Pelicans went over the top, at least in Paige’s mind, when they added an old Model T to the offer.

1. (Aus.) to fellate.

1986

R.G. Barrett Godson 215: [O]ur specialty was blow jobs. [...] Those old dills [...] used to come from miles around to get us to knock the top off it’.

2. (Aus. prison) to masturbate.

1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Knock the top/head off. Masturbate.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 77: What’s the use of having mates with tits if you cannot get the buggers to knock the top off it now and then.

slightly insane.

1901		Bateman & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] Folkestone for the Day 🎵 And forty voices let it go, ‘A little bit off the top’.
1902		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 25 Nov. 3/3: Innumerable and curious euphemisms for ‘mad’ [...] ‘balmy in the crumpet’, [...] ‘a tile loose,’ ‘soft in the cocoa-nut,’ ‘off his rocker,’ ‘off his nut,’ ‘off his chump’ [and] ‘a little bit off the top’.
1915		C.J. Dennis Sentimental Bloke in DSUE (1984).

1. taken first, esp. when sharing out money, legally or otherwise, e.g. expenses come off the top.

1935		News (Frederick, MD) 15 Feb. 4/8: ‘How much off the top?’ means the same thing, since interest is deducted in advance and thus comes off the top of the bills counted out by the money lender.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 61: This joint takes 40 per cent off the top of all touches.
1951		D. Dressler Parole Chief 263: ‘The nut comes off the top’ is a saying among the brethren. When stolen articles are cashed in all expenses must be taken care of before the cut is made.
1967		(con. 1940s) M. Dibner Admiral (1968) 252: The house gets its cut of the drinks and you get yours, Rico, right off the top.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 119: ‘What kind of end do you want?’ ‘Thirty percent.’ ‘Off the top or after the nut?’.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1999		K. Sampson Powder 60: Wheezer intended to commission the boys on their hundred quid a week, off the top, just to get them into the habit of shedding twenty per cent of everything they got.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 196: First thing I do is give Farooq something off of the top.
2003		C. Stella Charlie Opera 139: ‘Can I get a drink first?’ she asked. ‘Can I take it off the top?’ he asked.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘Every time there’s a big bust, the “community” says the cops ripped some off the top’.

2. (US) from the beginning, immediately [musical imagery, one reads a score from the top].

1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 53: Scam you off the top soon as look at you thieving cows.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 61: I’m gonna be straight up with you off the top. I don’t like cops.

1. beyond the usual bounds of taste, behaviour, credibility etc.

[1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 54: Stan’s fourth card was the king of spades. ‘Over the top,’ he said philosophically and paid out].
1965		J.P. Carstairs Concrete Kimono 178: I seem to recall your ‘over the top’ waistcoats.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 44: One week later came the Times-Newsweek double-barrelled blast that really put the Angels over the top.
1983		A. Payne ‘Willesden Suite’ Minder [TV script] 12: Bit over the top, isn’t it? Men of the cloth downing pints in the cocktail lounge.
1998		Source Oct. 120: One would expect outrageous and over-the-top humor.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 9 Jan. 2: Kate Jackson hated wearing the over-the-top dresses.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 276: A bad reputation for over-the-top, gratuitous violence.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 117: I gave him an over-the-top smile.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 26: By ‘everything’ she means she’s let me fuck her and she’s not even being over the top with that; it was everything, it was the whole world.
2022		A. Kirzman Giuliani xv: He was intent on blowing things up to effect change; every initiative became an over-the-top drama.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 213: ‘[B]urning down a million-dollar building to remove evidence, that’s a bit over the top’.

2. in attr. use of sense 1.

2010

K. Richards Life 372: He was an over-the-top man. He had no control whatsoever.

3. very drunk.

1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 229: They tend to be young men with a whiff of the barmaid’s apron, and they go over the top and just make a bloody nuisance of themselves.
1981		T. Wilkinson Down and Out 47: They’re fine when I’m buying them a drink, but as soon as I’ve gone over the top, they rob me and they beat me.

(N.Z. prison) a assault by two inmates on a third, also v.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 192/1: top and tail n. a mode of assault whereby two assailants attack a single victim [...] v. to assault someone in the mode described above.

the best, the ultimate.

1909		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:v 383: top of the pot, n. phr. A person or thing of the highest value, the most excellent one. ‘As we say down here in Georgia, she’s the top of the pot and the pot a bilin’.’.
1973		David Williamson What If You Died Tomorrow (1977) I i: I’m top of the pork barrel, boy.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 75: ‘All right are yer?’ ‘Top of the bill. You?’.

(bingo) the number 90, 99 or 100.

1917		A.G. Empey Over the Top 148: The caller-out has many nicknames for the numbers such as ‘Kelly’s Eye’ for one [...] ‘Clickety-click’ for sixty-six, or ‘Top of the house’ meaning ninety.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 50: top of the house — Number 99 in the game of ‘House.’.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 122: The final 99, ‘Top of the House.’.
1936		(con. 1900s) F. Richards Old Soldier Sahib (1965) 71: No. 90 – Top of the House, or, Top of the Bleeding Bungalow.
1947		J. Maclaren-Ross Of Love And Hunger 116: Dead-pan geezer in a white coat calling the numbers. 90, top of the House. 66, clickety-click.
2001		J. Burkardt ‘The Bingo Code’ Wordplay 🌐 99: top of the house. 100: top of the house.

see joint n. (4c)

1. upper-class, superior, aristocratic, also as n.

1774		Foote Cozeners (1778) 16: Master Moses is an absolute Proteus; in every elegance, at the top of the tree.
1782		F. Burney Cecilia (1986) IV 307: You must needs think what a hardship it is to me to have him turn out so unlucky, after all I have done for him, when I thought to have seen him at the top of the tree, as one might say!
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 54: A morning at Tattersall’s among the top-of-the-tree heroes in society.
1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 7 Nov. 324/3: Ye, Liverpool coves, where 's the pride of your ‘crack un,’ / Now settled’s the butcher, your ‘top o' the tree?’.
1853		Dickens Bleak House (1991) 10: For years now my Lady Dedlock has been at [...] the top of the fashionable tree.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 76/2: It’s the top of the tree with his customers; 3d. or 6d. at a go.

2. in a superior position; the best of a type.

1872		Birmingham Dly Post 17 June 7/1: Queen’s Messenger is bound to keep at the top of the tree — for the St. Leger.
1881		Pall Mall Gaz. 6 Sept. 11/2: In 1871 he [i.e. a racehorse] came with a bound to the very top of the tree, one son, Favorius, winning the Derby.
1892		Pall Mall Gazette 17 Oct. 2/1: The song ‘If I was only long enough’ landed me with one bound at the top of the tree .
1903		Sunderland Dly Echo 8 July 6/4: Prisoners were regarded as dangerous criminals, and were at the top of the tree in their own particular line of crime.
1928		Derby Dly Teleg. 25 July 8/6: [headline] At the Top of the Tree. Derby Architect Head of Profession.
1936		‘Josephine Tey’ Shilling for Candles 141: Christine had been where Marta [...] would have given her right hand to be: at the top of her professional tree.
1947		Cheltenham Chron. 1 Feb. 7/2: The glioucester district was ‘top of the tree’ in regard to the number of new members.

(Aus.) first-rate, in first place; thus the leader, the one in charge.

1952		Sth Coast Times (NSW) 30 Oct. 36/3: Cringila hard-hitter, Kevin Werner, is at the top of the wozzer in the batting, having been dismissed only once in three digs for a total of 127.
1962		Central J.J. Home News (New Brunswick, NJ) 1 July 1/6: As an Australian [...] I half-expected to find the sheilahs here were top-of-the-wozzer.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY! 108: Marshall’s old man is top of the wozzer at some oil company.
1993		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Aug. 25: ‘Where,’ writes Wayne Grant, of Perth, ‘does the expression ‘top of the wozza’ come from?’ Apparently, according to Grant, the expression, is often used in Perth to describe something as the ultimate, the best. [...] The Wazza, or Wazzer, was the scene of two ‘battles’ between overexuberant Australian troops and Egyptians in 1915. The Wazza was the low native quarter. How the expression came to mean something good instead of something on the crook side is a mystery only Perth can unravel.
2012		stonyroads.com 19 Apr. 🌐 This is a guy on big money and he gets to play his tunes through Martin Audio's top-of-the-wozzer, primo MLA PA system.
2013		email to leagueunlimited.com (Aus.) 🌐 We Are Top of the Wozzer. After tonight when the Penny Panthers defeated the Storm we are now outright competition leader .
2014		J.K. Parrott Cost of Truth 27: My home life was warm, loving, open, friendly, and fun; school was easy, and sport was top of the wozza.

(UK Und.) a cat burglar.

1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 105: The ‘top story workers’ (cat-burglars) [...] not only rank as the elite in this particular branch of criminality with the underworld, but are accorded a front-rank place in jail esteem.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 174: As a ‘top storey worker’ [...] he was in a class by himself.

(US black) a large graffito piece that covers a subway coach from top to bottom.

2008

‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 32: I wasn’t painting any top-to-bottoms, my writing style was foul, and my name wasn’t getting around.