What it means
A tidy way to say something’s excellent, proper high quality, and basically hard to fault. Works for food, service, gear, a job well done, whatever’s impressed you and feels worth the cash. The notch bit comes from old scoring marks, so top-notch is the highest grade. Safe, solid praise when you want to sound impressed without laying it on thick.
Usage examples
"How was that new curry house then? Top-notch, mate. Staff were sound, naan was massive, and I’m still sweating like I ran the London Marathon."
"The food at that little place is top-notch, easily the best meal we have had all year."
"She did a top-notch job on the report, not a single thing to fix."
Where it comes from
The notch is a cut mark on a stick or tally used to measure and rank, so the top notch is the very highest mark you can reach. Something top-notch sits right at that top cut: the best of the best, first-class, nothing above it. The image is plain, a score climbing notch by notch until you simply cannot go any higher.
Other ways to say it
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