Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

cocked hat

noun
  1. a man's hat, worn especially in the 18th century, having a wide, stiff brim turned up on two or three sides toward a peaked crown.Compare bicorne, tricorn(def 2).
Show More
Idioms
  1. knock into a cocked hat, Informal. to destroy completely; render unachievable.
Show More

Origin of cocked hat

First recorded in 1665–75; cock2 + -ed2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cocked hat

Historical Examples

  • But it may be that I am constitutionally insensible to the virtues of a cocked-hat.

    The Uncommercial Traveller

    Charles Dickens

  • So, then he of the tight coat and cocked-hat was a king—King “Dingo Bingo!”

    Ran Away to Sea

    Mayne Reid

  • First, let me beg of you not to be persuaded into adopting a cocked-hat.

  • Dr. Grimstone examined the cocked-hat through his double eyeglasses, with a heavy thunder-cloud gathering on his brows.

    Vice Versa

    F. Anstey

  • More than once she was on the point of asking help or advice from the cocked-hat officials at the doors, but she was afraid.

    Grandmother Dear

    Mrs. Molesworth

British Dictionary definitions for cocked hat

cocked hat

noun
  1. a hat with opposing brims turned up and caught together in order to give two points (bicorn) or three points (tricorn)
  2. knock into a cocked hat slang to outdo or defeat
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012