tope

See also: Tope, topé, topě, and -tope

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /toʊp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /təʊp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊp
• Homophone: taupe

Etymology 1

Alteration of obsolete top (“to drink”), as in top (off).

Verb

tope (third-person singular simple present topes, present participle toping, simple past and past participle toped)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To drink excessively; to get drunk.
   • [1709], Tho[mas] d’Urfey, The Modern Prophets: Or, New Wit for a Husband. A Comedy. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     [I]f he has been toping all Night vvith his pretty Landlady Thetis; ſo has your Lordſhip vvith ſvveet little Jenny at the Thatcht-Houſe, […]

Derived terms

• toper

Translations

to drink excessively

• Bulgarian: пи́я (bg) (píja), пиянствам (pijanstvam)
• Czech: opíjet se impf
• French: chopiner (fr)
• Norman: toper
• Russian: пья́нствовать (ru) n (pʹjánstvovatʹ)

Etymology 2

Noun

tope (plural topes)

1. A small, grey, European shark, Galeorhinus galeus, that has rough skin and a long snout.

Translations

Galeorhinus galeus

• Asturian: cazón (ast), mielga (ast), tolla (ast)
• Czech: psohlav obecný
• Faroese: gráhávur m
• Irish: gearrthóir m
• Manx: coo glass m
• Russian: ку́нья аку́ла f (kúnʹja akúla)
• Spanish: cazón (es) m
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: كوپك بالغی (köpek balığı)

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Tamil தோப்பு (tōppu).

Noun

tope (plural topes)

1. (India) A grove of trees.
   • 1868?, James Grant, First Love and Last Love

     Concealed among the long rank grass of the mango tope the three lurkers watched the gate of the camp; but though many passcd out and in, the rider on the bay mare was not one of the number.

   • 2011, Chandra Mallampalli, Race, Religion and Law in Colonial India:

     In addition, a memorandum was kept containing receipts and issues of toddy drawn at a toddy tope.

Etymology 4

Probably from Pali thūpa. Doublet of stupa.

Noun

tope (plural topes)

1. A mound-like Buddhist sepulchre, or memorial monument, often erected over a relic; a stupa.

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Hindi तोप (top), which in turn is borrowed from Classical Persian توپ (tōp). Ultimately loaned from a Turkic word, which is derived from Proto-Turkic *top. Compare Turkish top.

Noun

tope (plural topes)

1. (India, obsolete) A cannon (weapon).
   • 1857, Cassell's Illustrated History of England, page 269:

     They found him strongly posted near the fortress of Deeg, in the midst of bogs, tanks, and topes, and formidably defended by artillery.

References

• Henry Yule; A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903), “tope”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […].

Anagrams

• Pote, poet, pote, poët

Galician

Verb

tope

1. inflection of topar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Hoyahoya

Noun

tope

1. meat

References

• Philip Carr, Hoyahoya organised phonology data (2006)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.pe/
• Rhymes: -ɔpe
• Hyphenation: tò‧pe

Noun

tope f pl

1. plural of topa

Anagrams

• peto, pote, poté

Middle English

Noun

tope

1. alternative form of top

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.pi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.pɨ/

• Hyphenation: to‧pe

Etymology 1

Deverbal from topar.

Noun

tope m (plural topes)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Etymology 2

Verb

tope

1. inflection of topar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “tope”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tope”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

tope (Cyrillic spelling топе)

1. third-person plural present of topiti

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtope/ [ˈt̪o.pe]
• Rhymes: -ope
• Syllabification: to‧pe

Etymology 1

Deverbal from topar.

Noun

tope m (plural topes)

1. butt, end, butt end
2. stop, catch, snag (also figuratively)
3. collision
4. quarrel, fight
5. reinforcement
6. (railway) buffer, bumper
7. (nautical) masthead, lookout
8. (Mexico) speed bump

   Synonym: (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) túmulo

9. (Costa Rica, Nicaragua) equestrian parade usually held on the first day of a festival

Synonyms

• borda f (Honduras)

Derived terms

• a tope
• al tope
• hasta el tope
• hasta los topes

Etymology 2

From Old French top (“top, summit”), from Frankish *top; compare English top.

Noun

tope m (plural topes)

1. top, limit

Adverb

tope

1. (colloquial, Spain) really

   Es tope feo

   He's dead ugly

Etymology 3

Verb

tope

1. inflection of topar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “tope”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swahili

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Bantu [Term?].

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

tope class V (plural matope class VI)

1. mud

West Flemish

Noun

tope f (plural toopn, diminutive tooptje)

1. vole
2. shrew

Alternative forms

• tolpe

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt̪o.pe/

Verb

tope

1. (modal, auxiliary) to want to (do something)

   Synonym: seba

   de tope tefiam ― I want to eat

2. (modal, auxiliary) to intend to (do something)

   Synonym: seba

Usage notes

This term does not appear to be conjugated.

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982), The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[1], Pacific linguistics