top and tail

plural tops and tails

1. The top and bottom of something.

present singular third person tops and tails · present singular third person top and tails · participle present topping and tailing · participle present top and tailing · participle past topped and tailed · past topped and tailed · participle past top and tailed · past top and tailed

1. transitiveTo add to the beginning and end of (something), such as the salutation and valediction added to a letter.
2. transitiveTo remove the top and bottom of (an item), for example when preparing carrots for cooking.
3. transitivebroadcastingTo set the limits of (an audio tape recording, a digital video file, etc.) by adding physical markers or by trimming unwanted portions.

   They are retrieved when needed, topped and tailed ready for use, and stored on the newsroom system […]

   2002, Carole Fleming, The Radio Handbook, page 128

   1 more example

   “Roger—a lovely man, great DJ, and huge Bruce fan—got the interview for [London's] Capital Radio,” rock journalist Patrick Humphries told me. “He liked the Springsteen book I'd done so I transcribed the tape and topped and tailed it. […]

   2013, Jeff Burger, Springsteen on Springsteen

4. colloquialtransitiveTo bathe (a small child) in a minimal way by wiping their face and bottom.
5. UKtransitiverail transportTo provide (a train) with a locomotive at each end, for ease of reversal.

   All services to Rhymney were top and tailed by locos that had been associated with the line over the years; namely, Classes 33, 37, 47 and 50.

   2018, Nicholas Wilcock, Arriva Trains Wales

   1 more example

   Railway Support Services repaired the damaged drawgear to enable the unit to be top-and-tailed to Peel Ports' Alexandra Dock (Liverpool) by Rail Operations Group 57310 and 57312, [...].

   2021 October 6, “News in pictures: Final journey for damaged Class 507”, in RAIL, number 941, page 30, photo caption

1. not comparableLined up in alternating directions; (of humans specifically) lying side-by-side with each person's head by their neighbours' feet.

   The remaining children would almost always share beds, often sleeping 'top and tail' to squeeze in as many as possible into one bed.

   2010 March 15, Sue Bruley, The Women and Men of 1926: A Gender and Social History of the General Strike and Miners' Lockout in South Wales, University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 35

   2 more examples

   For this reason also we usually advise that the children are placed "top and tail" alternately so that each child's head is at least six feet from the next one.

   1948, Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene (Great Britain), The Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene

   There were seven chisels in my father's toolbox laid top and tail about like sardines or packed on their sides like bottles of wine yet each one different suited and ground to its own purpose and buffed to a misty mirror-finish

   1983, New Writing Scotland

2. not comparablerail transportWith a locomotive at each end.

   The Class 50s headed the train from Bristol Temple Meads to Cornwall and back to Bristol, running top and tail on the Cornish branches.

   2022 May 5, Peter Green, English Electric Class 50 Diesels: From the Western Region to Preservation, Pen and Sword Transport, →ISBN, page 129