Dictionary

betop en · VERB

Etymology

From be- (“on, at, upon”) + top.

Meanings

1. (rare, transitive) To top
   • The Pagoda is the great Leviathan of the river Snowford; every thing on its banks must yield toils proud supremacy; it betops all contemporaries. 1841, Lord William Pitt Lennox, Complex Audley:
   • So now we have, ladies and gentlemen, the Botanic Gardens once more to one side, on the right now, as you will appreciate, doing our circuit clockwise around, noting also, if you haven't already, not only the firmly locked until clearly stated opening times (subject to seasonal variation) iron gates, but also the betopped by cruel spikes encircling iron fence, which, should that prove insufficient, supplementarily augmented by the stranding of barbed wire. 2009, Morris Lurie, To Light Attained:
   • The power company had lopped off the tops of the trees along the road, and they stood betopped, blunted, like a child's drawing of trees. 2012, John Colman Wood, The Names of Things:

Forms