topline
See also: top line
English
Etymology
top + line
Noun
topline (plural toplines)
- The upper curvature of a horse's or dog's withers, back, and loin.
- 2002, Ted S. Stashak, Ora Robert Adams, Adams' Lameness in Horses (page 75)
- When viewing the horse in profile, attention must be paid to the curvature and proportions of the topline.
- 2002, Ted S. Stashak, Ora Robert Adams, Adams' Lameness in Horses (page 75)
- Principal billing.
- 1969, Ebony magazine (volume 24, number 9, July 1969, page 146)
- In recent weeks Cosby has, perhaps more than any other topline entertainer of the moment, been both at the pinnacle and at the crossroads.
- 1969, Ebony magazine (volume 24, number 9, July 1969, page 146)
- The edge that runs along the top of the opening of a shoe.
Verb
topline (third-person singular simple present toplines, present participle toplining, simple past and past participle toplined)
- (transitive) To bill (a performer) as the primary entertainer in a production.
- 1983, John Kobal, A History of Movie Musicals: Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance (page 147)
- A popular series of musical shorts he made for Mack Sennett's company in 1930 added to his success as a radio vocalist, and had made him a star by the end of 1931, when Paramount toplined him in The Big Broadcast […]
- 1983, John Kobal, A History of Movie Musicals: Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance (page 147)
- (transitive, intransitive) To be billed as the primary entertainer in (a production).
- Variety
- [Whitney] Houston's success in music led her to topline the features "Waiting to Exhale," "The Preacher's Wife" and the telefilm "Cinderella."
- 2006, Everett Aaker, Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters (page 418)
- Although occasionally he toplined in a “B” picture, he found his greatest achievements were as a character actor.
- 2009, Robert Viagas, I'm the Greatest Star
- Over the next few years he toplined three "Encores!" productions […]
- Variety
Derived terms
- topliner
Anagrams
- pointel, pontile, potline