top speed
- noun
- But here is what I am thinking: the top speed on it is 230 km/h.
- top speed of 130 miles
What is the top speed of a Formula One car?
- What is the top speed of a Formula One car?
- OK, so if this is the Rover, this is the top speed.
- And it just so happens that King Kong's mass can be related to his theoretical top speed through scaling laws as well.
- It's actually not adding more top speed, but adding more lanes to the highway, if you get what I mean.
- So traveling at top speed in a zigzag course pretty much made it impossible for these ships to be sunk by a sub.
- So it's a single speed with a big chain ring up front, small and you can't go at top speed downhill, but you have to go hard uphill.
- There's a couple other minor little things just to ensure maximum top speed.
Examples
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What is the top speed of a Formula One car?
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The long line of flashing lights and cop cars drives at top speed up Route One.
Fiction book (1994) -
Captain wants the boat at top speed.
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- This is the vehicle's top speed.
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Wait, what's your top speed?
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What's the top speed on this thing?
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So what was your top speed on US freeways this year?
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Right now we are aboard a train which, traveling at top speed, will arrive at the Union Station in L.A. At 1900 hours.
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So there's an event in Sun Valley ID called the Sun Valley Tour de Force and it's a top speed event where they shut down the state highway and cars can test their top speeds.
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The car can reach a top speed of 200 miles per hour on the highway.
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the highest speed' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'top' (highest, uppermost) with 'speed' (rate of movement). This simple modifier+noun composition is a common, regular pattern in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Top speed probably comes from the picture of a speed meter or dial where the highest numbers sit at the top and show the fastest speed. So top speed means 'the highest speed' someone or something can reach.