Meanings
plural flattops · alternative flat top · alternative flat-top
- USA short haircut in which the hair is brushed straight up then cut flat across the top.
Well school's not so bad but the summer's better Gives me more time to see my girl Walk through the park beneath the shiny moon Oh when we kiss she makes my flat top curl
1959 Jerry Keller, "Here Comes Summer" (lyrics) - entertainmentA type of stringed instrument, most often an acoustic guitar, with a flat top (as opposed to an archtop), with strings held in place with pins, and with a complex system of bracing struts on the top.
Synonyms: folk guitar
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of stringed instrument, most often an acoustic guitar, with a flat top (as opposed to an archtop), with strings held in place with pins, and with a complex system of bracing struts on the top.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for takeoffs and landings
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From flat + top. Sense of “aircraft carrier” attributed to the message, “Scratch one flattop,” radioed during the Battle of the Coral Sea by LCDR Robert E. Dixon to the USS Lexington, whose commanding officer credited the pilot with coining the standard USN slang.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
flattop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flattop
“flattop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flattop. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flattop,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flattop.
Source: flattop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.