old hat

See also: old-hat

English

Etymology

Origin unknown.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

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Noun

old hat (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Something with which one is very familiar; something very common, hackneyed or out of date. [from 20th c.]
   • 1946 November 11, “New Plays in Manhattan”, in Time‎^[1]:

     Coward is such an old hand at this kind of thing that he makes it seem old hat.

   • 1987 May 8, Elaine Sciolino, “Washington Talk: The Hart Story Grips the Capital”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     It is old hat for a sex scandal to bring down a politician.
2. (now rare, archaic) The vulva; (by extension) sexual intercourse.
   • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, letter XI:

     Upon which she very pertly reply'd, She had done that not with a Design to affront but to convince me of the Value she had for my Present; for that if the Pedantick Blockhead should come, he should only have a little bit of Old-Hat to stay his Stomach, till he got to some Harlot of his own Puritanical Flock […]

   • 1980, Erica Jong, Fanny:

     'Tis a Nest, a Niche, an Old Hat, an Omnibus, an Oyster, a Palace o' Pleasure.

Related terms

• old-hat (adjective)