Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To drink (liquor) habitually and excessively or engage in such drinking.
- n. A small, rough-skinned, widely distributed shark (Galeorhinus galeus) having an elongated conical snout.
- n. See stupa.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. 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.
- Same as top.
- n. 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. The species to which the name originally pertained is found on the European coast. There are others in various parts of the world, as the oil-shark of California, G. zyopterus. See also cnt under Galeorhinus.
- n. The European wren.
- n. 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. When for the former purpose the tope is called a dagoba, when for the latter a stupa, the term tope having reference to the external shape only. The oldest topes are dome-shaped, and rest on a base which is cylindrical, quadrangular, or polygonal, rising perpendicularly or in terraces. A distinctive feature of the tope is the apical structure, which is in the shape of an open parasol and is known as a tee. One of the most important surviving topes is the principal one of a group at Sanchi in Bhopal, Central India. The tumulus is domical, somewhat less than a hemisphere, 106 feet in diameter and 42 feet in height. On the top is a flat space, In the center of which once stood the tee. A most elaborately carved stone railing surrounds this tope. In topes serving to preserve relics these were deposited in metal boxes or in chambers in the solid masonry of the tope. See dagoba, stupa.
- n. In India, a grove or clump of trees: as, a toddy- tope; a cane -tope.
Wiktionary
- n. A small, grey, European shark, Galeorhinus galeus, that has rough skin and a long snout.
- v. archaic To drink excessively; to get drunk.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A moundlike Buddhist sepulcher, or memorial monument, often erected over a Buddhist relic.
- n. India A grove or clump of trees.
- n. (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 , andpenny dog . - n. (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The wren.
- v. To drink hard or frequently; to drink strong or spiritous liquors to excess.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a dome-shaped shrine erected by Buddhists
- v. drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic
Etymologies
- Possibly from obsolete tope, interjection used in proposing a toast.Origin unknown.Hindi top, probably from Prakrit thūpo, from Sanskrit stūpaḥ, tuft of hair, crown of the head, summit, stupa. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The other kind of tope is unofficial, but I have dubbed it the inverse, or reverse, tope.”
“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.”
“The infamous Mexican tope is a murderous roadway device meant to slow vehicular traffic.”
“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.”
“The only good thing about a tope is that it allows you to pass slow trucks as they inch over the tope.”
“* Note: This passage is differently written in the various manuscripts I have seen; and in some the word tope (gun) has been written for nupth, (naphtha, and toofung) (musket) for khudung, (arrow.)”
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5
“Other times there is only a single warning, just the sign with the word tope and its buddy, the arrow, or simply an image of a car rising on a ramp.”
“Amanda was then outside the door, and could not get in. 7 At the place there was (subsequently) raised a tope, which is still existing.”
“Over the spot (where his body was burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence.”
“A short distance from its summit, just after passing the villages, and before entering the ravine which leads us to our present camp is a Khyberry tower, built on a fine Bactrian tope, which is nearly half ruined; on the top of this a dome of good proportions is built on a double-terraced foundation.”
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tope’.
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fish list
lots and lots of fish, a piscatorial
wetdreamablet, agnathan, ahi, ahuru, ahuruhuru, albacore, albicore, alec, alewife, allice, allis, amberjack and 840 more...
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It's a Fish
kelpfish, fatfin, dollarfish, barrelfish, palometa, poppy-fish, ballan-wrasse, sweetlips, bichir, finpike, bergall, cunner and 192 more...
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Potpourri
eponymous, aa, pulchritude, gizmo, macabre, sui generis, solecism, solipsism, eldritch, samizdat, queue, obsequious and 469 more...
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Drunkie
Haay gusy! uiI lieke twebb sit e !!
alcoholize, usquebaugh, whiffled, vinous, enology, aleconner, gambrinous, alcofrolic, perfect barf, bibulous, bleezed, brannigan and 144 more...
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epeolatrist's list
epeolatry, syzygy, sphallolalia, lucubration, lugubrious, cacology, mellifluous, tmesis, synecdoche, anathema, eschatological, razbliuto and 349 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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The Education of Elizabeth
ex cathedra, prepense, bricolage, efface, truculent, ineluctable, akimbo, folderol, frangible, shank's mare, hustings, advantitious and 40 more...
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Thirsty Yet?
Words that mean drink.
quaff, drink, imbibe, swill, sip, swig, chug, down, slurp, gulp, drain, swallow and 13 more...
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Sharks
hammerhead, mako, whitetip, porbeagle, dogfish, thresher, vaalhaai, tope, shovelhead, shovelnose, blacktip, bonnethead and 23 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tope.

hernesheir It's a fish, a bird, or a stupa. You pick. Jan 2, 2012