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Jul 12, 2018
This week’s theme
Words relating to fruit

This week’s words
apple-polish
fig leaf
grapevine
top banana
plummy

top_banana
Image: Amazon

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

top banana

PRONUNCIATION:
(TOP buh-NAN-uh)

MEANING:
noun: The leader of a company, group, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
From the use of bananas as a prop in burlesque shows. Earliest documented use: 1947. A person in a secondary role is called a second banana.

USAGE:
“‘I’m no longer going to be in charge,’ Mr. Riggio said. ‘I’m done with that. I’m done with being top banana.’”
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg; Pioneering Barnes & Noble Leader to Step Down; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 27, 2016.

See more usage examples of top banana in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (12 Jul 1817-1862)

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