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
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
"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2018
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
A friend admonished him for the high-hat dismissal, and a chastened Mr. Lloyd fished out the script for a closer look.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
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
On “No Bad News,” a work of fearless diagnostics and badly needed affirmation, Mr. Allen coaxes the snare drum in a lateral sway, and pushes things ahead with the kick and high-hat.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2017
For his part, Kingdom continues his exploration of experimental R&B. Opening song “What Is Love,” which features SZA, rumbles with a slow bass kick and relentless high-hat, with shards of melody ripping through the mid-range.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2017
Must be his high-hat tastes foller him, no matter where he goes–sorter dude, I’d call him, partner.”
From Eagles of the Sky With Jack Ralston Along the Air Lanes by Ambrose Newcomb
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
Yankee Doodle Boy hits pretty hard at Cohan's early days when, as a flip, conceited kid playing in vaudeville, he high-hatted stagehands, raised hell over his billing.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was moving along with us, her face peering over the half-lowered window, growing suspicious of movie stars who high-hatted their fans.
From Time Magazine Archive
All the noted campaign speakers assigned to our town were invited to be the Markleys' guests, and Mrs. Markley sent her husband, red necktied, high-hatted and tailor-made, to the train to meet the distinguished guest.
From In Our Town by Frederic Rodrigo Gruger
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
