tippy top

A form of tippe top — A spinning top of a shape with counterintuitive behavior: generally mushroomlike or spherical, with a rounded head and a short stem; when spun head-down on a smooth, flat surface, it inverts its attitude so that it spins head-up, on the tip of the stem, until it loses momentum and falls over.

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Meanings

nountippy top (plural tippy tops)

plural tippy tops

  1. alternativeAlternative spelling of tippe top.
    1 more example

    Someone in the crowd took a small plastic top from his pocket. "Have you seen these ‘tippy tops’ that the dealers are selling? I'll bet you a nickel that if you spin it, it will turn upside down and spin on the tip of its pin." "No bet," said Nick. "I bought a tippy top myself. But I'll tell you what I'll do. You spin the top clockwise. I'll bet you a nickel you can't tell me now in what direction it will be spinning after it flips over."

    1961, Martin Gardner, The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

tippy top. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tippy%20top

MLA

“tippy top.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tippy%20top. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tippy top,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tippy%20top.

Source: tippy top on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.