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Definition 2024


get_one's_hat_handed_to_one

hand someone his hat

English

Alternative forms

Verb

hand someone his hat

  1. (chiefly US, idiomatic) To require someone to depart; to dismiss someone.
    • 1948 Nov. 27, Drew Pearson, "The Washington Merry-go-round," Ludington Daily News (US), p. 4 (retrieved 10 Nov 2015):
      McNeil replied, "It may have been Hitler who helped Chamberlain with his overcoat but don't forget it was the British people who handed him his hat."
    • 1972 July 25, Bob Considine, "Letter to Kremlin," Reading Eagle (US), p. 4 (retrieved 10 Nov 2015):
      You grew up under dictators who would have put people to the sword if they dared hand them their hats and invite them to buzz off.
    • 1984 Feb. 6, Mary McGrory, "Feldstein doggedly speaks his mind," Eugene Register-Guard (US), p. 15A (retrieved 10 Nov 2015):
      The President's men, nonetheless, view him the way the Vatican saw Galileo—as a dangerous heretic. . . . They would hand him his hat if they dared.

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