Hat Metaphors and Similes

I gather these. Additions to this checklist are welcome. Additionally, word that in some circumstances I do not know the origin of a specific expression. When you have information or theories of origin for something beneath, I would additionally like to listen to from you. I hope you get pleasure from these.

Speaking Via Your Hat

To speak nonsense or to lie. c1885. [In an interview in The World entitled “How About White Shirts”, a reporter asked a New York streetcar conductor what he thought 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.]

Consuming Your Hat

There is no such thing as a such factor as a certain factor, however that is the place this expression comes from. Should you inform somebody you will eat your hat in the event that they do one thing, be sure you’re not carrying your greatest hat-just in case. [The expression goes back at least to the reign of Charles II of Great Britain and had something to do with the amorous proclivities of ‘ol Charlie. Apparently they named a goat after him that had his same love of life which included, in the goat’s case, eating hats.]

Previous Hat

Previous, boring stuff; out of trend. [This seems to come from the fact that hat fashions are constantly changing. The fact of the matter is that hat fashions had not been changing very fast at all until the turn of the 19th Century. The expression therefore is likely about 100 years old.]

Mad As A Hatter

Completely demented, loopy. [Hatters did, indeed, go mad. They inhaled fumes from the mercury that was part of the process of making felt hats. Not recognizing the violent twitching and derangement as symptoms of a brain disorder, people made fun of affected hat-makers, often treating them as drunkards. In the U.S., the condition was called the “Danbury shakes.” (Danbury, Connecticut, was a hat-making center.) Mercury is no longer used in the felting process: hat-making — and hat-makers — are safe.]

Hat In Hand

An indication of humility. For instance, “I come hat in hand” implies that I are available in deference or in weak point. [I assume that the origins are from feudal times when serfs or any lower members of feudal society were required to take off their hats in the presence of the lord or monarch (remember the Dr. Seuss book “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins”?). A hat is your most prideful adornment.]

Go The Hat

Actually to go a person’s hat amongst members of an viewers or group as a way for gathering cash. Additionally to beg or ask for charity. [The origin is self-evident as a man’s hat turned upside down makes a fine container.]

Tight As Dick’s Hat Band

Something that’s too tight. [The Dick in this case is Richard Cromwell, the son of England’s 17th Century “dictator”, Oliver Cromwell. Richard succeeded his dad and wanted to be king but was quickly disposed. The hatband in the phrase refers to the crown he never got to wear.]

Hat Trick

Three consecutive successes in a recreation or one other endeavor. For instance, taking three wickets with three successive pitches by a bowler in a recreation of cricket, three objectives or factors gained by a participant in a recreation 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 three successive balls.]

Laborious Hats

Within the nineteenth Century, males who wore derby hats particularly Japanese businessmen and later crooks, gamblers and detectives. [Derby hats, a.k.a. Bowlers or Cokes, were initially very hard as they were developed in 1850 for use by a game warden, horseback rider wanting protection.] At the moment, “Laborious Hats” are building staff [for obvious reasons].

In One’s Hat, or In Hat

An expression of incredulity. [Origin unknown. Help us if you can]

Throwing A Hat Within the Ring

Getting into a contest or a race e.g. a political run for workplace. [A customer wrote us with the following: “I read in “The Language of American Politics” by William F. Buckley Jr. that the phrase “throw one’s hat in the ring” comes from a practice of 19th Century saloonkeepers putting a boxing ring in the middle of the barroom so that customers who wanted to fight each other would have a place to do so without starting a donnybrook. If a man wanted to indicate that he would fight anybody, he would throw his hat in the ring.

At one point, Theodore Roosevelt declared he was running for office 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” stuck, probably because “I am stripped to the waist” is a little gross.]

Hats Off . . .

“Hats off to the U.S. Winter Olympic Group” for instance. An exclamation of approval or kudos. [Origins must be from the fact that taking one’s hat off or tipping one’s hat is a traditional demonstration of respect.]

A Feather In Your Cap

A particular achievement. [I assume that the origins on this expression hail from the days when, in fact, a feather for one’s cap would be awarded for an accomplishment much like a medal is awarded today and pinned to one’s uniform. A feather, or a pin, add a certain prestige or luster to one’s apparel.]

Maintain On To Your Hat(s)

A warning that some pleasure or hazard is imminent. [When riding horseback or in an open-air early automobile, the exclamation “hold on to your hat” when the horse broke into a gallop or the car took-off was certainly literal.]

Bee In Your Bonnet

A sign of agitation or an thought which you can’t let go of and simply have to specific. [A real bee in one’s bonnet certainly precipitates expression.]

Sporting Many Hats

This in fact is a metaphor for having many various duties or jobs. [Historically, hats have often been an integral, even necessary, part of a working uniform. A miner, welder, construction worker, undertaker, white-collar worker or banker before the 1960s, chef, farmer, etc. all wear, or wore, a particular hat. Wearing “many hats” or “many different hats” simply means that one has different duties or jobs.]

All Hat and No Cattle

All present and no substance. For instance, in October 2003, Senator Robert Byrd declared that the Bush administration’s declarations that it wished the United Nations as a accomplice in remodeling Iraq had been “All Hat and No Cattle”. [This Texas expression refers to men who dress the part of powerful cattlemen, but don’t have the herds back home.]

To Hold Your Hat (or not)

To decide to one thing (or not), or stake your status on one thing (or not), like an thought or coverage. For instance “I would not dangle my hat on George Steinbrenner’s choice to fireplace his supervisor.” [Origin unknown. Can anyone help with this one?]

On the Drop of a Hat

Quick. [Dropping a hat, can be a way in which a race can start (instead of a starting gun for example). Also, a hat is an apparel item that can easily become dislodged from its wearer. Anyone who wears hats regularly has experienced the quickness by which a hat can fly off your head.]

To Tip Your Hat or A Tip of the Hat

An endorsement of respect, approval, appreciation, or the like. Instance: “A tip of the hat to American troops for the seize of Saddam Hussein.” [This is simply verbalizing an example of hat etiquette. Men would (and some still do) tip their hat to convey the same message.]

My Hat As a substitute of Myself

That is an expression from Ecuador, house of the “Panama” hat. It means what’s says; it’s preferable to surrender your hat than your life. [The Guayas River runs through Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city on the Pacific coast. People from the city were known to hunt alligators for their hides in the river by swimming stark naked wearing Panama hats on their heads and long knives between their teeth. When the reptiles open their jaws and go for the swimmer, he dives leaving his hat floating on the surface for the alligator to chew on while he plunges the knife into the animal’s vitals. From THE PANAMA HAT TRAIL by Tom Miller.]

Dangerous Hat

I imagine this can be a French expression for a foul particular person. [Ludwig Bemelmans’ MADELINE series of children’s books, set in France, includes one MADELINE AND THE BAD HAT. In this story Madeline, our heroine, refers to a little boy neighbor as a “bad hat”. She clearly means this as a metaphor for a bad person and because I do not know the expression in English, I assume this is a common French reference. If anyone out there knows more about this, please drop us an email.]

Hat by Hat

Step-by-step. [Nevada Barr’s book SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT: Hat by Hat means just that. Has anyone heard this expression otherwise? If yes, please email us.]

Protecting One thing Beneath One’s Hat

Protecting a secret. [People kept important papers and small treasures under their hats. One’s hat was often the first thing put on in the morning and the last thing taken off at night, so literally keeping things under one’s hat was safe keeping. A famous practitioner of this was Abraham Lincoln. The very utilitarian cowboy hat was also commonly used for storage.]

This is Your Hat, However What’s Your Hurry

When somebody has taken up sufficient of your time and also you need him/her to depart. [Origin unknown.]

Carry His Workplace in His Hat

Working a enterprise on a shoestring. [Important papers and the like were often carried in one’s hat.]

Units Her Cap

A younger girl “units her cap” for a younger man who she hopes to curiosity in marrying her. [Long ago, maidens wore caps indoors because homes were poorly heated. A girl set her most becoming hat on her head when an eligible fellow came to call.]

Pondering Cap

To place in your “pondering cap” is to provide some drawback cautious thought. [Teachers and philosophers in the Middle Ages often wore distinctive caps that set them apart from those who had less learning. Caps became regarded as a symbol of education. People put them on (literally or figuratively) to solve their own problems.]

Black Hat . . .

Black hat ways, black hat intentions, and so forth. seek advice from nefarious actions or designs. [Black hats in Western lore and literature were the bad guys.]

White Hat . . .

Though I do not see or hear this expression as a lot as “Black Hat”, it merely is the alternative of the above. [Good guys wore/wear white hats.]

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3gInHvk
via IFTTT