witch's hat

English

An orange traffic cone

Etymology

From their conical shape, resembling the hats that witches are popularly believed to have worn.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

witch's hat (plural witches' hats)

1. Hygrocybe conica, a small mushroom of the waxcap genus found in North America and Northern Europe.
2. (Australia) A traffic cone.
   • 2018 January, “Standard Conditions for On-street (Temporary) Parking Permit”, in City of Newcastle‎^[1]:

     The applicant may need to reserve the parking spaces by the placement of witches hats or by arranging with businesses/clients on the day.

   • 2017 April 6, Rebecca Parish, “No agencies own up as Killara locals search for witches hats owner”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[2]:

     Killara residents are fed up with picking up fallen witches hats on Stanhope Road.

   • 2022 December 28 (last accessed), “Multi-stage fitness”, in NSW Police‎^[3]:

     The test is conducted over a 20 metre course marked with lines or witches hats, with applicants running continuously between the points.

3. Alternative form of witch hat
   • 1995, Andrew Geeson, Noddy Annual, Egmont Books, →ISBN, page 51:

     Tessie had a witch's hat and that made Noddy laugh. "You'll never look bad enough to be a witch!" he said.

   • 2010, Jennifer Weiner, Fly Away Home, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 332:

     "Right here," said Lizzie, who had a witch's hat perched on her head. Underneath it she wore a loose black sweater, a long, tattered black skirt, black patterned hose, and ankle-high black boots.

   • 2017, Cynthia Staton, Life Lived Not Lost: A Journey of Hope, Morgan James Publishing, →ISBN, page 69:

     Immediately Victoria took off her headband that had a witch's hat on it and gave it to the girl. “Now you are a proper witch,” she said. The girl smiled and went out trunk or treating.

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see witch,‎ hat.

   We had finally found the witch, who was wearing a green top hat that seemed a bit out of place. As she looked up towards us, the wind blew the witch's hat off of the witch's head.

Synonyms

• (mushroom): conical wax cap, conical slimy cap

Translations

fungus

• Catalan: pixaconill m
• Dutch: zwartwordende wasplaat f
• German: Kegeliger Saftling m
• Polish: wilgotnica czerniejąca f

Anagrams

• hat switch