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pith helmet

American

noun

a hat made of dried pith or cork covered with cloth, worn in the tropics.

pith helmet British

noun

Also called: topee. topi. a lightweight hat made of pith that protects the wearer from the sun

"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

Etymology

Origin of pith helmet

First recorded in 1855–60

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.

Among her many dancers, I spy a nurse, an astronaut, a UPS delivery guy — even a dude in a pith helmet.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2026

You can’t get up when that happens, so a stage manager in a pith helmet would come and drag them off.

From New York Times • Nov. 16, 2022

Today, such activism seems as passé as a pith helmet.

From Scientific American • Feb. 1, 2021

We will remember her for wearing a white pith helmet to Kenya and for smiling so rarely that shots of her grinning created “Fake Melania” conspiracy theories.

From Slate • Nov. 7, 2020

Small white wings sprouted from his pith helmet.

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023