hat S1 W3 /hæt/
noun [countable][
Language: Old English;
Origin: hæt]
1. a piece of clothing that you wear on your head:
Maria was wearing a beautiful new hat.straw/cowboy/bowler etc hatin a hat
a man in a fur hatbowler-hatted/top-hatted etc (=wearing a bowler hat, top hat etc)
a bowler-hatted gentleman2. keep something under your hat informal to keep something secret
3. be wearing your teacher’s/salesman’s etc hat (
also have your teacher’s/salesman’s etc hat on)
informal to be performing the duties of a teacher etc, which are not your only duties:
I’m a manager now and only put my salesman’s hat on when one of our sales reps is having real problems.4. I take my hat off to somebody (
also hats off to somebody)
informal used to say you admire someone very much because of what they have done:
I take my hat off to Ian – without him we’d have never finished this project on time.5. be drawn/pulled/picked out of the/a hat if someone’s name is drawn out of a hat, they are chosen, for example as the winner of a competition, because their name is the first one that is taken out of a container containing the names of all the people involved:
The first correct entry out of the hat on September 2nd will win a prize.6. pass the hat around to collect money from a group of people, especially in order to buy someone a present
7. throw/toss your hat into the ring to say publicly that you will compete in an election or for a job
⇒
hard hat,
old hat, ⇒
at the drop of a hat at
drop2(5), ⇒
I’ll eat my hat at
eat(8), ⇒
hang up your hat at
hang up(3), ⇒
be talking through your hat at
talk1(29)
[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲