peg top

¹

noun

1. a child's wooden top that spins on a metal peg.
2. peg tops, peg-top trousers.

peg-top

²

[ peg-top ]

adjective

1. wide at the hips and narrowing to the ankle:

   peg-top trousers; peg-top skirts.

peg top

¹

noun

1. a child's spinning top, usually made of wood with a metal centre pin

peg-top

²

adjective

1. (of skirts, trousers, etc) wide at the hips then tapering off towards the ankle

Word History and Origins

Origin of peg top¹

First recorded in 1650–60

Origin of peg top²

1860–65; adjective use of peg top (in the sense “a child's toy that spins on a peg”)

Example Sentences

This bulge he shaped and smoothed very carefully with his knife, so that it was in the form of a peg-top.

From Project Gutenberg

The child who was spinning a peg-top in the street was simply dressed in a short-skirted cotehardie.

From Project Gutenberg

It spins to brave music, this peg-top, but its metier is to spin.

From Project Gutenberg

Slowly at first and then with a rush she came about like a peg top.

From Project Gutenberg

The men in peg-top trousers and silk stocks, the women in crinolines and poke bonnets.

From Project Gutenberg