First recorded in 1800–10
First recorded in 1890–95; adj. use of top hat
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s all just bravado and illusion in a show where the magician has no bunnies left to pull from his top hat.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
It made absolutely no sense, but she delivered it with such panache that it barely mattered – even when she ended the performance by pulling a dove out of a top hat.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
She went on to dance for many years, reaching what she said was "a decent standard", and even performed on stage in a top hat and tails.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025
A commercial artist added the top hat, monocle and cane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2025
His brown top hat almost falls off his head.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
Some were dressed up as the moustachioed, top-hat wearing mascot of the board game Monopoly.
From Reuters ● Sep. 30, 2023
In details like Art’s harlequin jumper and tiny top-hat fascinator — and in the gruesome nondigital makeup effects Leone crafted himself — what moviegoers are buying is homemade filmmaking.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2022
The top-hat wearing members of Phil’s “inner circle” take part in the elaborate ceremony every year in which they read a prediction that had already been made in advance.
From Slate ● Feb. 2, 2020
“A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,//A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl//Make him the quaint great figure that men love,//The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.”
From Fox News ● Feb. 13, 2019
He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top-hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
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.
