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Other terms such as over dog and upper dog were also in use, but they have fallen by the wayside. The term top dog seems to have evolved from the literal meaning of the phrase, describing the dog who is dominant in a pack or victorious in a dogfight. The plural form is top dogs.
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It seems that both underdog and top dog originated from dog fighting which went on in the 19th century.

The losing dog ended up on the bottom, or under the winner, who was on top.

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