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Aloft vs Atop - What's the difference?

aloft | atop |

As adverbs the difference between aloft and atop

is that aloft is in the air; in the sky while atop is on, to, or at the top.

As a preposition atop is

on the top of.

aloft

English

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • in the air; in the sky
    • high winds aloft
  • above, overhead, in a high place; up
  • * 1883 , :
    • Someone's turned the chest out alow and aloft .
  • * 1954 , :
    • He noticed that he still held the knife aloft and brought his arm down, replacing the blade in the sheath.
  • (nautical) in the top, at the masthead, or on the higher yards or rigging.
  • * 1859 , , The Red Rover: A Tale :
    • I think you said something concerning the manner in which yonder ship has anchored, and of the condition they keep things alow and aloft ?

    Related terms

    * loft * lofty

    See also

    * alow

    Anagrams

    * float

    References

    *

    atop

    English

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • On the top of.
    • He sat atop the mountain, waiting for the end of the world.
  • * 1966 , The Minnesota Review , vol. 6, page 242
    • A virtue is made out of a necessity, with the child feeling far more atop and master of his oddness, his behavior now deliberate or even clever.
  • * 2006 , Dewey Lambdin, The Gun Ketch , page 48
  • *:"And other things," she echoed, nodding slowly and resting her body a little more atop him again.
  • * 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
    • “Monotheism was born here,” Goren tells me atop a cliff overlooking the sheet of iron-colored water.
  • On the top, with "of".

    • Usage notes

    "Atop of" was formerly much more commonly used than now.

    Derived terms

    * thereatop

    Synonyms

    * on top * ontop (mainly US)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • On, to, or at the top.
  • * 1909 , William Dean Howells, Seven English Cities , Kessinger Publishing 2004, p. 46:
    • He has a handsome face, still bearded in the midst of a mostly clean-shaving nation, and with the white hairs prevalent on the cheeks and temples; his head is bald atop , though hardly from the uneasiness of wearing a crown.
  • * 1978 , James C. Humes, Speaker's Treasury of Anecdotes About the Famous , Harper & Row 1978, p. 102:
    • The envoy found the French king playing the part of horse while his young son rode atop .