top one's boom

Originally referring to maximizing the sail on a ship.

top one's boom (third-person singular simple present tops one's boom, present participle topping one's boom, simple past and past participle topped one's boom)

1. To depart quickly.
   • 1862, Chartley Castle, Harold Overdon, ashore and afloat, page 98:

     Her husband had topped his boom, and so had his Lordship.

   • 1880, Nauticus, Nauticus on his hobby horse, or the adventures of a sailor during a tricycle cruise of 1427 miles:

     With my usual luck I found that the castle would not be open until three o'clock, as it was now noon I did not care to wait all that time, so "topping my boom" we went on to Tonbridge Wells by a hilly road.

   • 2007, William Stamer, Recollections of a Life of Adventure - Volume 1, →ISBN, page 128:

     So, buoyant with the hope of being able to make up for my increased expenditure by happy speculations in the share market, I at once topped my boom, and without a single misgiving for the future got quickly under way.