Definition of "housetop"

26 Feare them not therefore: for there is nothing couered, that shall not be reueiled; and hidde, that shall not be knowen.27 What I tell you in darkenesse, that speake yee in light: and what yee heare in the eare, that preach yee vpon the house tops.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 10:26–27

Up on the housetop, reindeer pause. / Out jumps good old Santa Claus.

c. 1860, Benjamin R. Hamby, Up on the Housetop

Not only did the distance to the The Pure Drop, the fully-licensed tavern at the further part of the dispersed village, render its accommodation practically unavailable for dwellers at this end; but the far more serious question, the quality of the liquor, confirmed the prevalent opinion that it was better to drink with Rolliver in a corner of the housetop than with the other landlord in a wide house.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 41