Hat Metaphors and Similes
I collect these. Additions to this list are welcome. Also, notice that in some cases I do not know the origin of a particular expression. If you have understanding or theories of origin for nearly anything beneath, I’d also like to listen to from you. I desire you get pleasure from these.
Conversing Through Your Hat
To talk nonsense or to lie. c1885. [In an interview in The Earth entitled “How About White Shirts”, a reporter asked a New York streetcar conductor what he believed about efforts to get the conductors to wear white shirts like their counterparts in Chicago. “Dey’re talkin’ tru deir hats” he was quoted as replying.]
Eating Your Hat
There is no these kinds of issue as a positive issue, but that is where this expression comes from. If you tell someone you’ll eat your hat if they do a thing, make certain you’re not donning your best hat-just in circumstance. [The expression goes back again at least to the reign of Charles II of Excellent Britain and had one thing to do with the amorous proclivities of ‘ol Charlie. Apparently they named a goat following him that had his very same adore of daily life which involved, in the goat’s situation, ingesting hats.]
Old Hat
Old, dull stuff out of fashion. [This would seem to arrive from the reality that hat fashions are constantly changing. The fact of the issue is that hat fashions had not been modifying extremely rapidly at all until the flip of the 19th Century. The expression for that reason is likely about one hundred a long time old.]
Mad As A Hatter
Absolutely demented, ridiculous. [Hatters did, in fact, go mad. They inhaled fumes from the mercury that was component of the procedure of making felt hats. Not recognizing the violent twitching and derangement as signs of a brain condition, people created enjoyable of impacted hat-makers, frequently healing them as drunkards. In the U.S., the situation was called the “Danbury shakes.” (Danbury, Connecticut, was a hat-generating center.) Mercury is no extended utilised in the felting procedure: hat-producing — and hat-makers — are safe.]
Hat In Hand
A demonstration of humility. For instance, “I arrive hat in hand” implies that I arrive in deference or in weakness. [I suppose that the origins are from feudal moments when serfs or any reduce members of feudal culture have been essential to consider off their hats in the presence of the lord or monarch (keep in mind the Dr. Seuss ebook “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins”?). A hat is your most prideful adornment.]
Pass The Hat
Practically to pass a man’s hat amongst members of an audience or group as a means for collecting cash. Also to beg or inquire for charity. [The origin is self-evident as a man’s hat turned upside down tends to make a great container.]
Restricted As Dick’s Hat Band
Something that is too tight. [The Dick in this scenario is Richard Cromwell, theson of England’s 17th Century “dictator”, Oliver Cromwell. Richard succeeded his father and wanted to be king but was rapidly disposed. The hatband in the phrase refers to the crown he never acquired to wear.]
Hat Trick
3 consecutive successes in a video game or one more endeavor. For example, taking three wickets with 3 successive pitches by a bowler in a game of cricket, 3 objectives or factors won by a player in a video game of soccer or ice hockey, and so forth. [From cricket, from the former practice of awarding a hat to a bowler who dismissed three batsmen with 3 successive balls.]
Tough Hats
In the 19th Century, men who wore derby hats especially Eastern businessmen and later crooks, gamblers and detectives. [Derby hats, a.k.a. Bowlers or Cokes, had been at first really challenging as they have been developed in 1850 for use by a video game warden, horseback rider wanting protection.] These days, “Tough Hats” are construction workers [for apparent good reasons].
In One’s Hat, or In Hat
An expression of incredulity. [Origin unknown. Help us if you can]
Throwing A Hat In the Ring
Entering a contest or a race e.g. a political run for workplace. [A client wrote us with the adhering to: “I study in “The Language of American Politics” by William F. Buckley Jr. that the phrase “toss one’s hat in the ring” comes from a apply of 19th Century saloonkeepers placing a boxing ring in the center of the barroom so that clients who needed to fight each other would have a spot to do so with no commencing a donnybrook. If a man wanted to indicate that he would combat anyone, he would toss his hat in the ring.
At a single point, Theodore Roosevelt declared he was running for company with a speech that included a line that went something like, “My hat is in the ring and I am stripped to the waist”. The phrase “my hat in the ring” caught, most likely simply because “I am stripped to the waist” is a minor gross.]
Hats Off . . .
“Hats off to the U.S. Winter months Olympic Crew” for instance. An exclamation of approval or kudos. [Origins must be from the reality that taking one’s hat off or tipping one’s hat is a classic demonstration of respect.]
A Feather In Your Cap
A unique achievement. [I assume that the origins on this expression hail from the days when, in simple fact, a feather for one’s cap would be awarded for an accomplishment significantly like a medal is awarded today and pinned to one’s uniform. A feather, or a pin, include a certain prestige or luster to one’s apparel.]
Hold On To Your Hat(s)
A warning that some exhilaration or risk is imminent. [When riding horseback or in an open up-air early car, the exclamation “maintain on to your hat” when the horse broke into a gallop or the car took-off was surely literal.]
Bee In Your Bonnet
An indication of agitation or an thought that you can’t let go of and just have to express. [A actual bee in one’s bonnet definitely precipitates expression.]
Sporting A lot of Hats
This of program is a metaphor for getting a lot of distinct responsibilities or jobs. [Historically, hats have usually been an integral, even needed, portion of a working uniform. A miner, welder, building employee, undertaker, white-collar employee or banker prior to the 1960s, chef, farmer, and so on. all put on, or wore, a particular hat. Donning “many hats” or “numerous different hats” merely means that 1 has diverse responsibilities or employment.]
All Hat and No Cattle
All show and no substance. For example, in October 2003, Senator Robert Byrd declared that the Bush administration’s declarations that it needed the United Nations as a companion in transforming Iraq had been “All Hat and No Cattle”. [This Texas expression refers to guys who gown the component of strong cattlemen, but do not have the herds again residence.]
To Hang Your Hat (or not)
To commit to some thing (or not), or stake your track record on a thing (or not), like an idea or policy. For example “I wouldn’t hang my hat on George Steinbrenner’s decision to fire his supervisor.” [Origin unknown. Can anyone support with this a single?]
At the Drop of a Hat
Quick. [Dropping a hat, can be a way in which a race can start off (as an alternative of a beginning gun for example). Also, a hat is an apparel item that can simply become dislodged from its wearer. Everyone who wears hats routinely has knowledgeable the quickness by which a hat can fly off your head.]
To Suggestion Your Hat or A Suggestion of the Hat
An endorsement of respect, approval, appreciation, or the like. Illustration: “A tip of the hat to American troops for the capture of Saddam Hussein.” [This is merely verbalizing an example of hat etiquette. Guys would (and some nonetheless do) tip their hat to convey the very same message.]
My Hat Rather of Myself
This is an expression from Ecuador, home of the “Panama” hat. It means what is states it is preferable to give up your hat than your lifestyle. [The Guayas River runs through Guayaquil, Ecuador’s biggest metropolis on the Pacific coast. Folks from the town had been known to hunt alligators for their hides in the river by swimming stark naked donning Panama hats on their heads and prolonged knives amongst their teeth. When the reptiles open up their jaws and go for the swimmer, he dives leaving his hat floating on the surface area for the alligator to chew on while he plunges the knife into the animal’s vitals. From THE PANAMA HAT Path by Tom Miller.]
Undesirable Hat
I imagine this is a French expression for a bad particular person. [Ludwig Bemelmans’ MADELINE series of children’s guides, set in France, contains one MADELINE AND THE Poor HAT. In this tale Madeline, our heroine, refers to a little boy neighbor as a “poor hat”. She plainly signifies this as a metaphor for a negative particular person and because I do not know the expression in English, I suppose this is a typical French reference. If anybody out there knows much more about this, please drop us an e-mail.]
Hat by Hat
Action by phase. [Nevada Barr’s book In search of ENLIGHTENMENT: Hat by Hat signifies just that. Has any person heard this expression in any other case? If yes, please e mail us.]
Maintaining Something Under One’s Hat
Keeping a key. [People stored crucial papers and little treasures under their hats. One’s hat was frequently the initial point place on in the early morning and the very last thing taken off at night, so practically maintaining things under one’s hat was safe maintaining. A well-known practitioner of this was Abraham Lincoln. The very utilitarian cowboy hat was also commonly utilised for storage.]
Here’s Your Hat, But What is Your Hurry
When an individual has taken up ample of your time and you want him/her to depart. [Origin mysterious.]
Carry His Company in His Hat
Working a organization on a shoestring. [Important papers and the like have been usually carried in one’s hat.]
Sets Her Cap
A youthful lady “sets her cap” for a younger man who she hopes to interest in marrying her. [Lengthy in the past, maidens wore caps indoors simply because homes were badly heated. A lady set her most getting to be hat on her head when an qualified fellow arrived to phone.]
Contemplating Cap
To set on your “pondering cap” is to give some issue watchful believed. [Teachers and philosophers in the Middle Ages typically wore distinctive caps that set them apart from individuals who had much less finding out. Caps became regarded as a symbol of training. Men and women put them on (literally or figuratively) to clear up their personal issues.]
Black Hat . . .
Black hat methods, black hat intentions, etc. refer to nefarious steps or styles. [Black hats in Western lore and literature ended up the undesirable guys.]
White Hat . . .
Despite the fact that I do not see or hear this expression as a lot as “Black Hat”, it basically is the reverse of the above. [Excellent guys wore/put on white hats.]
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