top and tail

English

Noun

top and tail (plural tops and tails)

1. The top and bottom of something.

Verb

top and tail (third-person singular simple present tops and tails or top and tails, present participle topping and tailing or top and tailing, simple past and past participle topped and tailed or top and tailed)

1. (transitive) To add to the beginning and end of (something), such as the salutation and valediction added to a letter.
2. (transitive) To remove the top and bottom of (an item), for example when preparing carrots for cooking.
3. (transitive, broadcasting) To set the limits of (an audio tape recording, a digital video file, etc.) by adding physical markers or by trimming unwanted portions.
   • 2002, Carole Fleming, The Radio Handbook, page 128:

     They are retrieved when needed, topped and tailed ready for use, and stored on the newsroom system […]

   • 2013, Jeff Burger, Springsteen on Springsteen:

     “Roger—a lovely man, great DJ, and huge Bruce fan—got the interview for [London's] Capital Radio,” rock journalist Patrick Humphries told me. “He liked the Springsteen book I'd done so I transcribed the tape and topped and tailed it. […]

4. (transitive, colloquial) To bathe (a small child) in a minimal way by wiping its face and bottom.
5. (transitive, rail transport, UK) To provide (a train) with a locomotive at each end, for ease of reversal.
   • 2018, Nicholas Wilcock, Arriva Trains Wales:

     All services to Rhymney were top and tailed by locos that had been associated with the line over the years; namely, Classes 33, 37, 47 and 50.

   • 2021 October 6, “News in pictures: Final journey for damaged Class 507”, in RAIL, number 941, page 30, photo caption:

     Railway Support Services repaired the damaged drawgear to enable the unit to be top-and-tailed to Peel Ports' Alexandra Dock (Liverpool) by Rail Operations Group 57310 and 57312, [...].

Adverb

top and tail (not comparable)

1. Lined up in alternating directions; (of humans specifically) lying side-by-side with each person's head by their neighbours' feet.
   • 1948, Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene (Great Britain), The Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene:

     For this reason also we usually advise that the children are placed "top and tail" alternately so that each child's head is at least six feet from the next one.

   • 1983, New Writing Scotland:

     There were seven chisels in my father's toolbox laid top and tail about like sardines (or packed on their sides like bottles of wine yet each one different suited and ground to its own purpose and buffed to a misty mirror-finish

   • 2010 March 15, Sue Bruley, The Women and Men of 1926: A Gender and Social History of the General Strike and Miners' Lockout in South Wales, University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 35:

     The remaining children would almost always share beds, often sleeping 'top and tail' to squeeze in as many as possible into one bed.

2. (rail transport, UK) With a locomotive at each end.
   • 2022 May 5, Peter Green, English Electric Class 50 Diesels: From the Western Region to Preservation, Pen and Sword Transport, →ISBN, page 129:

     The Class 50s headed the train from Bristol Temple Meads to Cornwall and back to Bristol, running top and tail on the Cornish branches.