top line

“All we wanted to accomplish was that the committee members would end up associating the names of Treffinger’s opponents with interrupting the Super Bowl when they got to their conventions and voted on which candidate to endorse—whichever candidate got the endorsement in a particular convention also got the top line on the primary ballot in that county.”

Simon & Schuster: How to Rig an Election

“In blue ink below the fold, in a large half-illegible scrawl, blot-stained in four places, it said: That the sending of this should cause the Destruction by Fire of the entire World (a word seemed to be missing here at the end of the top line where the paper was burned) seems well-nigh incredible.”

Time and Again

“While the recently joined members of C Squadron RCD endeavoured to bring their tanks to the top line of efficiency after their time in preservation, the infantry commanders from the platoon of 3 RCR and from the Vandoos made contact with their armoured opposite numbers with a view to co-ordinating the plans and discussing procedures they might be called upon to put into operation together.”

First Clash