# top (upper)

the part of a thing that is on the side that is up

- Computed level: L13 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: general  ·  Arena: EmergenceLexicon

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [part](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-part.relation), [side](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-side.surface), [relevance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-relevance.core)

**Through:** when a part of a thing is on a side that is up, relevance.core determines that this alignment matters, making that part the top

**Novel properties:**
- positionally salient part
- directional prominence
- contextual dominance

## Examples
- Mount Everest's summit rises 8,848 meters above sea level, the highest point on Earth's surface. *(geography)*
- The lid of the International Space Station's Zvezda module was removed during a 2001 spacewalk to install new equipment. *(engineering)*
- In chess, the white queen starts on a white square at d1, the top row from her player's view. *(games)*

## Used by
- [cover](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-cover.object) (L14)
- [head](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-head.body-part) (L14)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-top.upper*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-top.upper.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*