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top banana
noun
- a leading comedian in musical comedy, burlesque, vaudeville, etc.:
For many years he was top banana on the circuit.
- the chief person in a group or undertaking.
top banana
noun
- the leading comedian in vaudeville, burlesque, etc
- the leader; boss
亚洲网紅露点 History and Origins
Origin of top banana1
Idioms and Phrases
Also, top dog . The principal person in a group, organization, or undertaking, as in His plan was to be top banana within ten years , or Now that she's top dog you can't get hold of her at all . The first term comes from show business, where from the early 1900s it has signified the leading comedian (possibly the original allusion was to Frank Lebowitz, a burlesque comedian who used bananas in his act). It also gave rise to second banana , for a supporting actor, usually a straight man. Both were transferred to more general use in the second half of the 1900s, as in executive Peter Barton's statement, 鈥淭here is a certain pain to being a second banana, but you have to have an ability to sublimate your ego,鈥 quoted in The New York Times , May 15, 1996. The variant, top dog , originated in sports in the late 1800s and signified the odds-on favorite or winner in a contest; it alludes to the dog who wins (comes out on top) in a dogfight.Example Sentences
Technically, he鈥檚 top banana as president of the eighth grade, even though he only ran for office to impress Suzy Kraft, who dumped him anyway, the day after the election.
And they are so used to Soviet and Russian leaders murdering their own people, that they feel that this is part of the job description of the top banana.
Requests for comment from the three other top banana producers went unanswered.
Besides, he noted, Chisholm 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 have a chance at top banana, of course.鈥
Over time, he climbed to the top of the bill as the featured 鈥渇irst comic鈥 or, as it was sometimes called, top banana.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from 亚洲网紅露点 Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 漏 Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage庐 Idioms Dictionary copyright 漏 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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