Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A pith helmet worn for protection against sun and heat.
- n. A sassaby (Damaliscus lunatus subsp. topi) of eastern Africa having a glossy dark brown coat.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In India, a hat or cap.
Wiktionary
- n. An antelope of the species Damaliscus korrigum.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An antelope (Damaliscus corrigum jimela) having a glossy purplish brown coat. It is related to the blesbok and is native of East Africa. Also, any of various related varieties of other districts south of the Sahara.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a large South African antelope; considered the swiftest hoofed mammal
- n. a lightweight hat worn in tropical countries for protection from the sun
Etymologies
- Hindi ṭopī, hat.Probably of Swahili origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The American paragraphers also had fun with the word "topi," for they thought a topi was a sun hat much worn in the hot countries.”
“And above all, there seems to have been no official protest and no feeling that the abandonment of the topi was a subtle blow at white prestige.”
“Knots of smiling men, dapper in their dhaka topi hats, press their palms together to greet old friends.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“January 17th, 2009 at 11: 26 am Said: fcuk u nepalis aka topi aka Bhaate …. did you all eat your morning bhaat?”
“In consecinta este incorect sa vorbesti despre temperatura obtinuta in laborator; iar apoi sa spui ca protonii s-ar putea "topi" este o mare bazaconie.”
“The ranger who found her told Neal what he could read from the ground, that she had cut straight through the herd, a terrible mistake, because the topi antelope were nearing the end of their rut and the hyenas, there to pick off the weaker males as they collapsed from exhaustion, were waiting for her at the crest of the hill.”
“How to earn money from blogging controversial topi ...”
“Within the St. Floris region, the most abundant large mammals seem to be kob Kobus kob, hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus and grey duiker Sylvicapra grimmia, with other fairly abundant ungulates including waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus, oribi Ourebia ourebi, topi Damaliscus lunatus, reedbuck Redunca redunca, roan antelope Hippotragus equines and giant eland Taurotragus derbianus; also buffalo Syncerus caffer, warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius.”
Manovo-Gounda-St Floris National Park, Central African Republic
“Most men of substance wore the Nepali national dress, the daura suruwal, thin cotton pants that while tight against the ankles then billowed out, a dark Nehru-like jacket, and the ubiquitous topi, a pillbox hat.”
“Other uncommon animals are an isolated population of 30-40 chimpanzees Pan troglodytes schweinfurthi (E) in the southern lava field forest of Tongo, and in the north, a small relict population of okapi Okapia johnstoni (LR), topi Damaliscus korrigum (LR), forest hog Hylochoerus meinertzhageni and bongo Tragelaphus euryceros (LR); also three species of pangolin Manis spp. and the aardvark Orycteropus afer.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘topi’.
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[Open] “What’s that on your head?”
Headgear: “anything worn on the head” (that isn’t part of the head). Hats are fine, but for a more detailed, wider selection of fashionable hats in all colors and sizes, please see Reese Tee’s li...
goggles, wig, headdress, cap, hackamore, halter, bridle, beanie, turban, hat, crown, chapeau and 126 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 198 more...
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Mountaineering
mountaineering terms:
some of these more unusual ones came from the book Nanda Devi: Exploration and Ascentmoraine, cirque, couloir, arete, topee, gendarme, jat, dotial, bhotia, coolies, sahib, bharal and 9 more...
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The sun never sets
viceroy, pondicherry, nabob, pukka sahib, ayah, bridge, crore, parsee, scandal point, madras, sepoy, kerala and 21 more...
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hats and headgear
Everything hats,things with hoods,hoods,scarves,crowns,useful
adjectival forms,hat expressions,
alternate spellingsbabushka, balaclava, bamoral, baseball cap, beanie, bearskin, beaver hat, beret, billycock, biretta, boater, bobble hat and 422 more...
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Hats Off!
trilby, porkpie, panama, fedora, pillbox, stovepipe, turban, boater, ball cap, pastorella, beret, bowler and 219 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
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antelopes
addax
a large light-coloured antelope with curled horns. L. from an African word quoted by Pliny.
antelope
any one of a group of hollow-horned...addax, antelope, antilopine, ariel, blackbuck, blaubok, bluebuck, bloubok, blesbok, blesbuck, bok, bongo and 479 more...
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Antelope
gazelle, impala, pronghorn, nilgai, blackbuck, klipspringer, gemsbok, eland, oryx, kudu, duiker, chinkara and 54 more...
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VanishedOne's Words
facipulator, fetiphobia, gules, boustrophedon, reverse boustroph..., unreal, ensiform, xiphoid, romhack, heritage, floccinaucinihili..., johnian and 1004 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for topi.

chained_bear Or a topkepi? Nov 29, 2007
reesetee Topkapi? Haha! Nov 29, 2007
bilby From Malay. There's a children's song which goes:
Topi saya bundar
Bundar topi saya
Kalau tidak bundar
Bukan topi saya.
My hat is round
Round is my hat
If it were not round
It would not be my hat.
Used to teach the difference between the two negations and indeed between two kinds of nominal phrases. Now that's a hat. Nov 29, 2007
sionnach And the hat that the antelope would wear would presumably be called a topkapi. Nov 29, 2007
vanishedone I was thinking of the kind of antelope, which presumably is not worn as a hat, but for all I know that may be at least as common a sense. Nov 29, 2007