Word.ws English Dictionary

topside

US/ˈtɑp.saɪd/

topside noun: the side or part of something that is at the top.

Noun

topside (plural topsides)

  1. The side or part of something that is at the top.
    • Yet the topside exerts significant control over the lower ionosphere and hence also has an indirect effect on long-range radio communications.1964 March 12, C. D. Watkins, “Reaching the upper ionosphere by radar”, in New Scientist, page 686
    • These sounders have produced a wealth of information not only about the distribution of electrons in the topside but also about the response of plasma when the transmitter is embedded in it.1990, Kenneth Davies, Ionospheric Radio, page 261
  2. The surface of a ship’s hull that is above the water line.
    • We believe that the failure of Sun Ship to submit a bid for topside work had no effect on the price, quality, quantity or time of performance of any contract to be awarded for the combination of drydock and topside work covered in the firm′s bid for Lot III.1978, US General Accounting Office, Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States, number 58, page 793
  3. The structure and assembly of modules above the jacket or gravity base sub structure.
    • Future plans are for tripod designs in up to 90m of water, supporting lightweight topsides and braced mono towers for marginal field developments.1997, P. J. Dowling, B. A. Burgan, “Steel structures in the new millennium”, in P. K. K. Lee, editor, Structures in the New Millennium, page 11
  4. The structure and assembly of modules on the deck of any floating installation.
  5. (Australia, New Zealand, UK) The outer side of a round of beef.
    • To detach the round bone, the biggest muscle of the round, the topside, must first be removed. This is done by cutting down to the round bone in a layer of connective tissue which separates the topside from the nuggle.2004, Z. Farah, A. Fischer, editors, Milk and Meat from the Camel: Handbook on Products and Processing, page 116
    • Slow roasting is better for lean or not so tender cuts such as topside or whole bolar blade, which are not suitable to be cooked very pink.2008, Leanne Kitchen, The Butcher, Murdoch Books, page 27

Adjective

topside (not comparable)

  1. Abovedeck, such as on the weather deck or bridge.

Adverb

topside (not comparable)

  1. Abovedeck, such as on the weather deck or bridge.
    • Dennis Reynolds: What do you mean what do we need a mattress for? Why in the hell do you think we just spent all that money on a boat? The whole purpose of buying the boat in the first place was to get the ladies nice and tipsy topside so we can take 'em to a nice comfortable place below deck and...2010 September 30, Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, directed by Randall Einhorn, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season 6, episode 3 (The Gang Buys a Boat) (Black Comedy), spoken by Dennis Reynolds...

Examples of topside in a sentence

  • The rotor underside also exhibits a higher coefficient of microscale friction than the rotor topside and stator, as shown in Table 50.6.2006, Bharat Bhushan, editor, Handbook of Nanotechnology, volume 2, Springer, page 1617:
  • The composite filter system includes topside and backside light path with different filter[s].2008, Shan-Ben Chen, Jing Wu, Intelligentized Methodology for Arc Welding Dynamical Processes, Springer, page 40:
  • Place one cake layer on a serving plate, topside down; spread evenly with the pineapple filling.2008, Carol Fenster, 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes, page 480:
  • It is removed from its attachment to the silverside along the natural seam, and from the topside by a straight cut along the line of the femur bone.2012, Graham Dodgshun, Michel Peters, David O′Dea, Cookery for the Hospitality Industry, 6th edition, Cambridge University Press, page 384:

Forms of topside

pluraltopsides

Origin of topside

From top + side.

Words formed from topside

Questions about topside

What does topside mean?
Topside means the side or part of something that is at the top.
How do you use topside in a sentence?
The rotor underside also exhibits a higher coefficient of microscale friction than the rotor topside and stator, as shown in Table 50.6.
What part of speech is topside?
Topside can be a noun, an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce topside?
Topside is pronounced /ˈtɑp.saɪd/ (US).
What is the plural of topside?
The plural of topside is topsides.

Words near topside in the dictionary

  1. topshey
  2. topshop
  3. topshops
  4. topshur
  5. topshurs
  6. topside
  7. topside development
  8. topside-turvy
  9. topsider
  10. topsiders
  11. topsides

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: topside (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-topside.ogg.

Cite this entry: “topside.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/topside. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.