| top | 1. To cover on the top; to tip; to cap; chiefly used in the past participle. "Like moving mountains topped with snow." (Waller) "A mount Of alabaster, topped with golden spires." (Milton) 2. To rise above; to excel; to outgo; to surpass. "Topping all others in boasting." (Shak) "Edmund the base shall top the legitimate." (Shak) 3. To rise to the top of; to go over the top of. "But wind about till thou hast topped the hill." (Denham) 4. To take off the or upper part of; to crop. "Top your rose trees a little with your knife." (Evelyn) 5. To perform eminently, or better than before. "From endeavoring universally to top their parts, they will go universally beyond them." (Jeffrey) 6. To raise one end of, as a yard, so that that end becomes higher than the other. To top off, to complete by putting on, or finishing, the top or uppermost part of; as, to top off a stack of hay; hence, to complete; to finish; to adorn. 1. A child's toy, commonly in the form of a conoid or pear, made to spin on its point, usually by drawing off a string wound round its surface or stem, the motion being sometimes continued by means of a whip. 2. A plug, or conical block of wood, with longitudital grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting. Origin: CF. OD. Dop, top, OHG, MNG, & dial. G. Topf; perhaps akin to G. Topf a pot. 1. The highest part of anything; the upper end, edge, or extremity; the upper side or surface; summit; apex; vertex; cover; lid; as, the top of a spire; the top of a house; the top of a mountain; the top of the ground. "The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heaven doth hold." (Milton) 2. The utmost degree; the acme; the summit. "The top of my ambition is to contribute to that work." (Pope) 3. The highest rank; the most honorable position; the utmost attainable place; as, to be at the top of one's class, or at the top of the school. "And wears upon hisbaby brow the round And top of sovereignty." (Shak) 4. The chief person; the most prominent one. "Other . . . Aspired to be the top of zealots." (Milton) 5. The crown of the head, or the hair upon it; the head. "From top to toe" "All the stored vengeance of Heaven fall On her ungrateful top !" (Shak) 6. The head, or upper part, of a plant. "The buds . . . Are called heads, or tops, as cabbageheads." (I. Watts) 7. A platform surrounding the head of the lower mast and projecting on all sudes. It serves to spead the topmast rigging, thus strengheningthe mast, and also furnishes a convenient standing place for the men aloft. 8. A bundle or ball of slivers of comkbed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out. 9. Eve; verge; point. "He was upon the top of his marriage with Magdaleine." 10. The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface. Top is often used adjectively or as the first part of compound words, usually self-explaining; as, top stone, or topstone; top-boots, or top boots; top soil, or top-soil. Top and but, a phrase used to denote a method of working long tapering planks by bringing the but of one plank to the top of the other to make up a constant breadth in two layers. <zoology> Top minnow, a small viviparous fresh water fish (Gambusia patruelis) abundant in the Southern United States. Also applied to other similar species. Origin: AS. Top; akin to OFries. Top a tuft, D. Top top, OHG. Zopf end, tip, tuft of hair, G. Zopf tuft of hair, pigtail, top of a tree, Icel. Toppr a tuft of hair, crest, top, Dan. Top, Sw. Topp pinnacle, top; of uncertain origin. Cf. Tuft. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| top-shaped | <botany> Having the shape of a top; cone-shaped, with the apex downward; turbinate. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| top-shell | <zoology> Any one of numerous species of marine top_shaped shells of the genus Thochus, or family Trochidae. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| turban-top | <botany> A kind of fungus with an irregularly wrinkled, somewhat globular pileus (Helvella, or Gyromitra, esculenta). Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| flat top waves | Activity in the electroencephalogram having a pattern suggesting a flat top; these wave's are often found in temporal lobe discharges. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acceptor control | <biochemistry> The regulation of the respiration rate, governed by ADP's ability to be a phosphate group acceptor. (06 May 1997) |
| anticipatory control | <physiology> The regulation of a system or process based on anticipated events, this isa feed-forward rather than a feedback system. (09 Oct 1997) |
| assist-control ventilation | Artificial respiration in which inspiration is produced automatically after a set interval if the person has not already begun to inspire. Compare: assisted ventilation, controlled ventilation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| autogenous control | <molecular biology> Regulation of how much a gene gets transcribed by the gene's own products. (02 Jan 1998) |
| aversive control | <psychology> Control of the behaviour of another individual by use of psychologically noxious means; e.g., attempting to force better study habits by withholding a child's allowance, or withholding sexual contact unless the partner complies with a request. (05 Mar 2000) |
| biological control | <agriculture> The agricultural use of living things, such as parasites, diseases, and predators, to control or eliminate others, such as weeds and pests, rather than by using chemicals (herbicides and pesticides). (21 Mar 1998) |
| birth control | Restriction of the number of offspring by means of contraceptive measures, projects, programs, or methods to control reproduction, by either improving or diminishing fertility. (05 Mar 2000) |
| gate-control hypothesis | A theory to explain the mechanism of pain; small fibre afferent stimuli, particularly pain, entering the substantia gelatinosa can be modulated by large fibre afferent stimuli and descending spinal pathways so that their transmission to ascending spinal pathways is blocked (gated). Synonym: gate-control hypothesis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| gate-control theory | A theory to explain the mechanism of pain; small fibre afferent stimuli, particularly pain, entering the substantia gelatinosa can be modulated by large fibre afferent stimuli and descending spinal pathways so that their transmission to ascending spinal pathways is blocked (gated). Synonym: gate-control hypothesis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| case-control study | <epidemiology> A study in which the risk factors of people with a disease are compared with those without a disease. It is an epidemiological method that begins by identifying persons with the disease or condition of interest (the cases) and compares their past history of exposure to identified or suspected risk factors with the past history of similar exposures among persons who resemble the cases but do not have the disease or condition of interest (the controls). The relationship of an attribute to the disease can therefore be examined by comparing affected and non-affected individuals with regard to the frequency or levels of the attribute in each group. (05 May 2002) |