top oneself
To outdo oneself or do more than one's previous best.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“She really topped herself with this delicious cake.”
“The chef topped herself this evening by creating a menu that impressed even the toughest food critics.”
“Having already achieved international acclaim for her previous novel, the author truly topped herself with this latest masterpiece of psychological suspense.”
From the British slang verb *top*, used to denote the act of killing, specifically by hanging. The reflexive construction emerged as a colloquialism for suicide.
- 01
adorn oneself with borrowed plumes
To claim the honor of another for oneself.
- 02
apply oneself
Synonym of strive: to work hard, to complete an activity with good effort and focus.
- 03
be oneself
To behave or act naturally, without regard to how this behavior is perceived by others.
- 04
bear oneself
To behave and conduct oneself in a particular manner.
- 05
box oneself into a corner
To create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions.
- 06
buy a dog and bark oneself
To do something that one has hired someone else to do.
- 07
carry oneself
To move, especially emphasizing the manner in which one moves.
- 08
cherry on top
Synonym of icing on the cake (“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”).
Last updated August 10, 2026