hat

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Definitions (57)

Toggle American Heritage Dictionary definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. noun A covering for the head, especially one with a shaped crown and brim.
  2. noun A head covering of distinctive color and shape worn as a symbol of office.
  3. noun The office symbolized by the wearing of such a head covering.
  4. noun A role or office symbolized by or as if by the wearing of different hats: wears two hats—one as parent and one as corporate executive.
  5. transitive verb To supply or cover with a hat.
  6. idiom at the drop of a hat At the slightest pretext or provocation.
  7. idiom hat in hand In a humble manner; humbly.
  8. idiom take (one's) hat off to To respect, admire, or congratulate.
  9. idiom talk through (one's) hat To talk nonsense.
  10. idiom talk through (one's) hat To bluff.
  11. idiom throw To enter a political race as a candidate for office.
  12. idiom under (one's) hat As a secret or in confidence: Keep this information under your hat.

Toggle Century Dictionary definitions Century Dictionary (38)

  1. A covering for the head; specifically, a head-dress worn in the open air, having a crown, sides, and a brim. Hats are made of various materials, as felt, silk, wool, straw, etc., and vary greatly in form and style; and they are worn, with characteristic differences of shape, by both men and women. Bonnets are sometimes loosely called hats. Thei hadden hattes of fin steill a-bove theire coiffes of Iren vpon theire heedes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 260. I want to finish trimming my hat (bonnet she meant). Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, vii. “Hullo tho',” says East, … “this'll never do—haven't you got a hat?— we never wear caps here.” T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 5. Near me sat Hypatia in her new spring hat. T. B. Aldrich, Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 38.
  2. The layer of tan-bark spread over hides in a tan-pit.
  3. In a smelting-furnace, a depressed place in the tunnel-head designed to detain gases.
  4. In some soap-coppers and the like, a depressed chamber in the bottom, provided with a tap for drawing off the contents: designed to collect impurities that settle. The copper, provided with a hat to receive impurities that subside, and to enable spent lye to be removed completely by the draw-off. W. L. Carpenter, Soap and Candles, p. 156.
  5. Cardinal's hat. See cardinal.
  6. Cardinal's hat. In heraldry, a representation of the red hat, having the tassels on each side arranged as described under cordon.
  7. Chimney-pot hat a hat with a high, nearly cylindrical crown and a relatively narrow brim: a common head-dress of men in the nineteenth century. Also called pot-hat, plug-hat, and stovepipe hat or stovepipe.
  8. Cocked hat. See cock.
  9. Copatain hat. See copatain.
  10. Crush hat. See crush-hat.
  11. Gainsborough hat a hat with a broad brim, similar to those seen in some of the portraits of ladies by Thomas Gainsborough, an English painter of the eighteenth century.
  12. Gibus hat [named from the inventor, a hatter in London], a hat the crown of which collapses and can be pressed flat, being held firmly in place by springs when open; an opera-hat.
  13. Gipsy hat. See gipsy.
  14. Hat of estate. Same as cap of maintenance (which see, under maintenance).
  15. Hat of Mont Alban or Montalban. Same as chapeau Montaubyn (which see, under chapeau).
  16. Iron hat in mining, same as gossan. [U. S.]
  17. Panama hat a fine plaited hat made of the young leaves (before expansion) of a stemless screw-pine (Carludovica palmata) by the natives of Central America. They are commonly worn in the West Indies and frequently on the American continent.
  18. Red hat a cardinal's hat. See cardinal. It may buy the red hat yet. C. Kingsley, Westward Ho.
  19. To give one a (one's) hat to lift the hat to one, or to take it off in his presence; salute by lifting the hat. I said nothing to you, but gave you my hat as I passed you. History of Col. Jack (1723).
  20. To hang up one's hat in a house, to make one's self at home; be continually in another's house, especially if not very welcome. The merchants of Calcutta are celebrated for a frank and liberal hospitality, which dates from the time when every European hung up his hat in his banker's or his agent's house on his arriving in the country. W. H. Russell, Diary in India, I. 107.
  21. To have a brick in one's hat. See brick.
  22. To pass round the hat to present a hat or any other convenient receptacle to receive contributions, as at a public meeting; hence, to ask for money for charitable use or some purpose of common interest. Lamartine, after passing round the hat in Europe and America, takes to his bed from wounded pride when the French Senate votes him a subsidy, and sheds tears of humiliation. Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 370.
  23. To thumb the hat to determine the order or succession of the watches on board a fishing-schooner. Five or more men, each representing a dory, form a circle about the captain, placing each a thumb on the inside of the rim of a hat. The skipper, beginning at random, counts on the thumbs until he reaches the seventh. This seventh man has the first watch, the process being repeated for the other watches.
  24. To provide with a hat: used chiefly in composition: as, straw-hatted girls. That was a spurred heel which had rung on the pavement, and that was a hatted head which now passed under the arched porte-cochère of the hotel. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, xv. The bonneting of some unhappy wretch who has had the audacity to wear … a high beaver hat. … Woe be to the hatted one should he attempt to resent their actions. The Century, XXVI. 875.
  25. To place a hat upon the head of. Cardinals hatted at Rome. New York Semi-weekly Tribune, March 22, 1887.
  26. To secure, as a seat, by placing one's hat upon it, as is done in the British House of Commons. [Colloquial] At 2 o'clock all was quiet in and about the House. Twenty seats had, however, been hatted before noon to secure them for the debate. Philadelphia Times, April 10, 1886.
  27. A Middle English form of hot.
  28. An obsolete form of hate.
  29. See hot.
  30. In botany, the pileus or cap of a mushroom.
  31. Alpine hat. See alpine.
  32. Bee-gum hat a silk hat [Local, U. S.] Dialect Notes, II. vii.
  33. Black hat a fresh immigrant; a new-comer; a ‘new chum.’ [Slang, Australia.]
  34. Cabbage-tree hat. See cabbage-tree.
  35. Hat trick in cricket, the feat of a bowler who gets out three batsmen in three successive balls: so called because formerly it was rewarded by the present of a new hat. It is the custom of many committees to give a sovereign to every professional who scores fifty runs, and money to those who perform the hat trick (i.e., take three wickets with consecutive balls). Encyc. Brit., XXVII. 276.
  36. Mackinaw hat a very coarse straw hat. [U. S.]
  37. Old hat in Australian (Victorian) political slang, see the extract. Mr. Frank Stephen was the author of the well-known epithet ‘Old Hats,’ which was applied to the rank and file of Sir James M'Culloch's supporters. The phrase had its origin through Mr. Stephen's declaration at an election meeting that the electors ought to vote even for an old hat if it were put forward in support of the M'Culloch policy. The Argus, May 1, 1895, quoted in E. E. Morris, Augtral English.
  38. Tamsui hat [named from Tamsui, a port and river in Formosa], a hat made of strips of the bleached leaves of Pandanus tectorius, a species of screw-pine growing everywhere in Formosa. It rivals the Panama hat in its resistance to weather and hard usage.

Toggle GNU Webster's 1913 definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

  1. Hot.
  2. sing. pres. of Hote to be called. Cf.
  3. A covering for the head; esp., one with a crown and brim, made of various materials, and worn by men or women for protecting the head from the sun or weather, or for ornament.

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

  1. an informal term for a person's role
  2. headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim
  3. put on or wear a hat
  4. furnish with a hat

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