tippe top

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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.

Word forms

tippe top tippe tops tippy top

Etymology

Coined by Danish engineer Werner Østberg in the 1950s.

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