hat

Less common meanings

4. 4
   put on headverbtransitive

   To place a hat on a person's head.

   After the maids had hatted and gloved the girls, the carriage was summoned and I was carted around one church after another.

   2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

   Note

   Usually done to someone else, and usually alongside other dressing verbs. David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (2004) has maids who "hatted and gloved the girls" before the carriage was summoned. The final consonant doubles before an ending: hatted, hatting. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • David Mitchell wrote Cloud Atlas. thebookerprizes.com
   • Cloud Atlas was first published in 2004. themorgan.org
   • The novel contains the exact words “hatted and gloved the girls”, describing the maids dressing the girls before the carriage was summoned. unife.it
5. 5
   go shoppingverbintransitive

   To go shopping in search of hats to purchase.

   Watt's need of semantic succour was at times so great that he would set to trying names on things, and on himself, almost as a woman hats.

   1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt

   Note

   Built like go shopping, with go hatting as the natural form. Katharine Metcalf Roof's The Great Demonstration (1920) has "We might just go hatting this afternoon." Samuel Beckett's Watt (1953) uses the bare verb for the trying-on itself: Watt tries names on things "almost as a woman hats." Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • The Great Demonstration contains the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
   • Samuel Beckett wrote Watt, first published in 1953. en.wikipedia.org
   • Watt compares trying names on things with a woman trying hats, using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   noble studentnounobsolete

   A nobleman's son at university, whose rank entitled him to wear a hat rather than a mortarboard.

   I knew intimately all the 'Hats' in the University, and I was henceforth looked up to by the 'Caps,' as if my head had gained the height of every hat that I knew.

   1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford

   Note

   Old Cambridge slang that turned headgear into rank. In Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Paul Clifford (1830), a man who knew all the 'Hats' is admired for it by the 'Caps,' the ordinary students in mortarboards. A character recalling his college days jokes that knowing them raised his head "the height of every hat that I knew." Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • This was Cambridge slang linking students' headgear with social rank. gutenberg.org
   • Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote Paul Clifford. en.wikipedia.org
   • Paul Clifford was first published in 1830, as confirmed by its first-edition title page. en.wikisource.org
   • The character says that knowing the Hats made the Caps look up to him. en.wikisource.org
   • The Caps were students wearing the ordinary academic cap rather than the privileged hat. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quotation occurs in a character's recollection of college; the speaker is Brandon, writing to Julia. en.wikisource.org
7. 7
   nouncolloquial

   The caret symbol, ^.
8. 8
   noun

   A small multi-directional switch on a joystick, operated with the thumb to shift viewpoint or trigger inputs.
9. 9
   nounnonstandard

   The háček, or caron, a small v-shaped diacritic placed above certain letters to change their sound.
10. 10
    verb

    To appoint as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.