antedating?: "top dollar"

[Charles Doyle]

Examples (from Googling the phrase "is top dollar")--

>From a restaurant review: "Cooking is top dollar but simple and generous" (St. Petersburg Times, 28 Dec. 2006).

"Tickets for Madonna's tour are pricey so it's just as well that it's top-dollar entertainment" (Evening Standard [London], 23 Apr. 2007).

>From a customer's review of the Rolling Stones album (posted on Barnes & Noble web site, 20 Aug. 2004): ". . . the rest of Exile on Main Street is top dollar too. . . ."

--Charlie
____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 09:43:40 -0700
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: antedating?: "top dollar"
>
>That is a sense I'm unfamiliar with.
>
>  JL
>
>Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>
>Or, by extension, attributively, "of highest quality" (since you get what you pay for)?
>
>--Charlie
>_____________________________________________________________
>
>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:21:27 -0700
>>From: Jonathan Lighter
>>Subject: antedating?: "top dollar"
>>
>>OED correctly defines "top dollar" as "a high price," but it literally means "the highest price or remuneration."
>>
>>JL

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