hatter

¹ American  

[hat-er] / ˈhæt ər /

noun

1. a maker or seller of hats.

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hatter ² American  

[hat-er] / ˈhæt ər /

noun

Australian Informal.

1. a person who has become eccentric from living alone in a remote area.

2. a person who lives alone in the bush, as a herder or prospector.

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hatter British  

/ ˈhætə /

noun

1. a person who makes and sells hats

2. crazily eccentric

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hatter Idioms  

1. see mad as a hatter.

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Usage

Who are the Hatters? A Hatter is a student or member of the athletic program at Stetson University in Florida.

Etymology

Origin of hatter¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at hat, -er ¹

Origin of hatter²

First recorded in 1850–55; said to be from the phrase “as mad as a hatter”

Example Sentences

The mad hatter theme is now becoming conventional wisdom among some of the foreign policy elite and media.

From Fox News • Mar. 2, 2022

It doesn’t take long for Onion to realize that Brown, for all his noble ambitions of emancipation, is as mad as a hatter.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2021

During various episodes in his life, Lowell was as mad as a hatter, but in poems like these he went crazy for a purpose.

From The Guardian • Sep. 26, 2020

In his first four years as a hatter, he says he was “thrown out of seven banks” for bad checks.

From New York Times • Aug. 7, 2018

Mr. Leroy was spitting and looking mad as a hatter.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis