[f. TOP sb.1 + MAN sb.1]
† 1. A ship (MAN sb.1 14) with a top on its mast; = top-ship (TOP sb.1 33). Obs.
1513. N. West, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. I. 67. I found none but ix. or x. small topmen,… and other small balyngiers and crayers,… one little topman of the burdon of threescore tonne.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xvii. (1877), I. 290. There are 135 ships that exceed 500 tun; topmen vnder 100, and aboue fortie, 656.
† 2. A hangman: = TOPSMAN 2. slang. Obs.
1607. W. N., Barley-Breake, D iv b. A nimble Ape his topman strait will be And hangs vp Streton.
3. Naut. A seaman stationed in one of the tops, to attend to the upper sails, or in a fighting ship as a marksman.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. viii. 379. Her topmen … made prodigious havock with their small arms, killing or wounding every officer … on the quarter-deck.
1825. H. B. Gascoigne, Nav. Fame, 74. The Topmen now the Backstays well attend, To lesser duties all attention lend.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xvi. Topmen, aloft! loose top-gallant sails.
1898. Newbolt, Isl. Race, 8. One morning the topmen reported below The old Agamemnon escaped from the foe.
4. a. The upper man in a saw-pit: TOP-SAWYER a; cf. PITMAN 3. b. A miner or pitman working at the top of the shaft.
a. 1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., v. 98. With the Pit-Saw they enter the one end of the Stuff, the Top-man at the Top, and the Pit-man under him. Ibid., vi. 113. Of the two Sawyers, the uppermost is called the Top-man.
1881. Lumber World, March. The frame or sash saw is operated in the same manner by a top-man and a pit-man.
b. 1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, iii. The bucket appeared slightly above the brace at the shaft, and was taken by the topman.
1912. Scotsman, 5 April, 5/2. There was … no settlement of the banksmen’s or topmen’s question.
