top piece

Noun

top piece (plural top pieces)

1. (shoemaking) The part of the heel on a shoe or boot that comes into contact with the ground.
   • Then pare the top piece to the size and form you intend it to be; but that you should always do before the heel is sewed, for now you are confined to the channel.1834, John O'Sullivan, The Art and Mystery of the Gentle Craft, page 50
   • On the outermost part of the heel, which is in direct contact with the ground when the shoe is worn, a top piece is applied.2010, Paul Frowen, Maureen O'Donnell, Donald Lorimer, Gordon Burrow, Neale's Disorders of the Foot, Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN, page 457
2. (US, colloquial) Something worn on the head; a hat, a wig or toupee.
   • The Mayor took himself up in the lift, quite naked of course, except for his top-piece and neckpiece with his two shopping-bags […].1973, Christina Stead, The Little Hotel, Text Classics, published 2016, page 79
3. The head or brain.