top oneself

English

Etymology 1

From top (“to excel; to surpass; to beat”).

Verb

top oneself (third-person singular simple present tops oneself, present participle topping oneself, simple past and past participle topped oneself)

1. (US, idiomatic) To outdo oneself or do more than one's previous best.

Etymology 2

From top (“to kill”) (UK).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

top oneself (third-person singular simple present tops oneself, present participle topping oneself, simple past and past participle topped oneself)

1. (British, slang) To commit suicide.

   Synonyms: suicide, take one's own life

   • 2004 January 16, “Blunkett admits Shipman error”, in BBC News‎^[1]:

     But Mr Blunkett, in a remarkably frank admission, said his first thought on hearing about the 57-year-old's death was to celebrate. "You wake up and you receive a phone call - Shipman's topped himself. You have just got to think for a minute: is it too early to open a bottle? And then you discover that everybody's very upset that he's done it."