Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small shark (Galeorhinus galeus) that has a long pointed snout and is commercially harvested for food and oil.
  • transitive & intransitive verb To drink (liquor) habitually and excessively or engage in such drinking.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A kind of shark, the miller's-dog or penny-dog, Galeorhinus galeus, or Galeus canis; also, one of several related sharks of small size, some of them also called dogfish.
  • Same as top.
  • noun The popular name for a type of Buddhist monument, which may be considered as a tumulus of masonry, of domical or tower-like form, many specimens of which occur in India and southeastern Asia, intended for the preservation of relics or the commemoration of some event.
  • noun The European wren.
  • noun An Australasian shark, Galeus australis. It differs somewhat from Galeus galeus, the tope of Great Britaiu. In Australia also called school-shark. E. E. Morris, Austral English.
  • To drink alcoholic liquors to excess, especially to do so habitually.
  • noun In India, a grove or clump of trees: as, a toddy- tope; a cane -tope.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun India A grove or clump of trees.
  • noun A moundlike Buddhist sepulcher, or memorial monument, often erected over a Buddhist relic.
  • intransitive verb To drink hard or frequently; to drink strong or spiritous liquors to excess.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A small shark or dogfish (Galeorhinus galeus syn. Galeus galeus), native of Europe, but found also on the coasts of California and Tasmania; -- called also toper, oil shark, miller's dog, and penny dog.
  • noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The wren.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small, grey, European shark, Galeorhinus galeus, that has rough skin and a long snout.
  • verb archaic To drink excessively; to get drunk.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a dome-shaped shrine erected by Buddhists
  • verb drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Possibly from obsolete tope, interjection used in proposing a toast.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi top, probably from Prakrit thūpo, from Sanskrit stūpaḥ, tuft of hair, crown of the head, summit, stupa.]

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Examples

  • The other kind of tope is unofficial, but I have dubbed it the inverse, or reverse, tope.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • The other kind of tope is unofficial, but I have dubbed it the inverse, or reverse, tope.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • The other kind of tope is unofficial, but I have dubbed it the inverse, or reverse, tope.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • The reverse tope is simply where a couple of volunteers dig a trench in the road, side to side, to curb the ardour of the nascent psychopath.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • Like its forerunner, the reverse tope is liable to be any depth or width; it depends on the whim of the spade wielders, or perhaps how deeply they had descended towards the bottom of a tequila bottle.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • Like its forerunner, the reverse tope is liable to be any depth or width; it depends on the whim of the spade wielders, or perhaps how deeply they had descended towards the bottom of a tequila bottle.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • The reverse tope is simply where a couple of volunteers dig a trench in the road, side to side, to curb the ardour of the nascent psychopath.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • Like its forerunner, the reverse tope is liable to be any depth or width; it depends on the whim of the spade wielders, or perhaps how deeply they had descended towards the bottom of a tequila bottle.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • The infamous Mexican tope is a murderous roadway device meant to slow vehicular traffic.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

  • The infamous Mexican tope is a murderous roadway device meant to slow vehicular traffic.

    Free riding the roads of Mexico 2010

Comments

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  • It's a fish, a bird, or a stupa. You pick.

    January 2, 2012