high hat
noun
high hat
1 American
[hahy hat]
/ ˈhaɪ ˌhæt /
high-hat
2
American
[hahy-hat]
/ ˈhaɪˈhæt /
verb (used with object)
high-hatted,
high-hatting
adjective
high-hat
1
British
adjective
verb
noun
-
informal a snobbish person
-
two facing brass cymbals triggered by means of a foot pedal
high hat
2
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of high hat1
First recorded in 1885–90
Origin of high-hat2
First recorded in 1915–20; v., adj. use of high hat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"I get dressed up in my full regalia - lab coat, rosette and two foot high hat - and go door-to-door asking for signatures," he says.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2023
He drew maximum sound from a minimal drum kit, consisting of one snare, a bass drum, two tom-toms, four cymbals and a high hat.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2021
Here comes one now, rattling catastrophically, like Max Roach whaling on the high hat.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 18, 2019
I was so inspired by Clyde’s rhythms that in a couple of years my tapping grew into drum sticks with a full drum set of high hat, cymbals, bass and snare drums, with lessons.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2019
Oh, to wear such a great coat with large buttons and a velvet collar and a squashed-down high hat with a ribbon cockade in the band!
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
My eyes digest the immensity of fallen trees bracketing the trail, the high-hat shaped fungi that spring from trunks and the thick folds of lichen hanging from branches that obscure the far-off canopy.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2021
Because the visual of that high-hat foam has become such a focus, sometimes people add too much soda to get it.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2019
On the track “Sand + Fog,” she employs finger-snapped samples, touches of high-hat driven trap music and esoteric ambient music to create a kind of veil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2018
But that’s abruptly deflated, back to plinks and high-hat taps.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2016
I've got a silk high-hat as slick as goose-grease, and a long jimswinger coat, and pants that are always ironed as sharp as a knife-blade in front.
From Ann Boyd by Will N. (Will Nathaniel) Harben
Marines, high-hatted bigwigs and sheepish ballplayers, shuffling out of step.
From Time Magazine Archive
Anyway, ever since last year, when one high-hatted member was mugged while en route to the opera, there has been the feeling that to wear a silk topper is to invite trouble.
From Time Magazine Archive
The handsome, high-hatted romantic poured out novels as naturally and easily as she breathed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Said a salesgirl in high-hatted Hattie Carnegie's: "A woman who bought six hats last year will buy only four this year."
From Time Magazine Archive
A fat, high-hatted, spatted gentleman runs out from the side street.
From The Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
