top, a toy having a body of conical, circular, or oval shape, often hollow, with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. If given a knock, a spinning top will go around in a circle at a slant; if spun with a slant at the start, it will quickly stand upright until halted by friction. Its physical properties are similar to those of the gyroscope. Some tops, as the common peg top, are spun by means of a cord. Whipping tops are kept spinning by whips with a lash. Other tops are spun by a twist of the hand or the action of a spring or a plunger. Some hollow tops, such as the thunder tops of Japan, have holes cut in them to produce a hum or roar.
Tops were known to the ancient Greeks, and the Romans constructed tops out of boxwood or terra-cotta. The top was known in Europe as early as the 14th century, and in Shakespeare’s day a large village top was frequently kept for use in cold weather as a warming-up exercise.
Tops also have long been known in Asia, where they were made out of such natural materials as conch shells, gourds, nuts, bamboo, and stone. In Japan, top spinning has for centuries been a pastime of adults as well as of children.
Humming tops were made from small gourds by the Maori of New Zealand. Because of their loud wailing sound, they were used in ceremonial mourning of the dead or to avenge a defeated clan. During Napoleon’s time, a Chinese game known for centuries as Ko-en-gen was introduced in Europe as diablo and became the rage. A spool (“devil”) was whipped up by a cord, tossed up by the player, and caught again on the cord. The hexagonal teetotum (known to the ancient Greeks and Romans), marked distinctively on each on its six sides, has at times been used in place of dice.
Tops are still popular in a variety of forms—e.g., a top of plastic and metal that plays choral reeds and changes colours while spinning.