Dick's hatband

English

Alternative forms

• Nick's hatband

Etymology

Unknown; theories include reference to some local figure named Dick or Nick; to Satan (cf. Old Nick and dickens); and to Richard Cromwell.

Noun

Dick's hatband

1. (colloquial, now principally US, dated) Used in similes as an intensifier, indicating someone or something is extremely strange, tight, &c.
   • 1742, James Ayres, Sancho at Court, Act III, line 44:

     A young Lady, the first or second Day of her Marriage, looks as queer as Dick's Hat-Band.

   • 1796, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. "Dick":

     I am as queer as Dick's hatband; that is, out of spirits, or don't know what ails me.

   • 2014, C.B. McKenzie, Bad Country, page 108:

     She's sharp as a tack when she wants to be and still tight as Dick's Hatband about her money.

Synonyms

• See Category:English intensifiers

Derived terms

• as fine as Dick's hatband
• as queer as Dick's hatband
• as tight as Dick's hatband
• queer as Dick's hatband
• tighter than Dick's hatband

 

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Dick's hatband”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
• “hatband, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2017.
• "Dick's hatband" in Michael Quinion, Worldwide Words, 23 February 2002.
• "The Puzzle of Dick's Hatband" in The Economist, 18 January 2011.