top and tail
top and tail noun: the top and bottom of something.
Noun
top and tail (plural tops and tails)
- 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)
- To add to the beginning and end of (something), such as the salutation and valediction added to a letter.
- To remove the top and bottom of (an item), for example when preparing carrots for cooking.
- To set the limits of (an audio tape recording, a digital video file, etc.) by adding physical markers or by trimming unwanted portions.
- They are retrieved when needed, topped and tailed ready for use, and stored on the newsroom system […]2002, Carole Fleming, The Radio Handbook, page 128
- “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. […]2013, Jeff Burger, Springsteen on Springsteen
- To bathe (a small child) in a minimal way by wiping their face and bottom.
- To provide (a train) with a locomotive at each end, for ease of reversal.
- 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 50.2018, Nicholas Wilcock, Arriva Trains Wales
- 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, [...].2021 October 6, “News in pictures: Final journey for damaged Class 507”, in RAIL, number 941, page 30, photo caption
Adverb
top and tail (not comparable)
- Lined up in alternating directions; (of humans specifically) lying side-by-side with each person's head by their neighbours' feet.
- 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.1948, Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene (Great Britain), The Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene
- 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-finish1983, New Writing Scotland
- With a locomotive at each end.
- The Class 50s headed the train from Bristol Temple Meads to Cornwall and back to Bristol, running top and tail on the Cornish branches.2022 May 5, Peter Green, English Electric Class 50 Diesels: From the Western Region to Preservation, Pen and Sword Transport, →ISBN, page 129
Forms of top and tail
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tops and tails |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tops and tails |
| third-person singular present | top and tails |
| present participle | topping and tailing |
| present participle | top and tailing |
| past participle | topped and tailed |
| past | topped and tailed |
| past participle | top and tailed |
| past | top and tailed |
Questions about top and tail
- What does top and tail mean?
- Top and tail means the top and bottom of something.
- What part of speech is top and tail?
- Top and tail can be a noun, a verb or an adverb.
- What is the plural of top and tail?
- The plural of top and tail is tops and tails.
Words near top and tail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: top and tail (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “top and tail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/top_and_tail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.