Word.ws English Dictionary

old hat

UK/ˌəʊl(d)ˈhæt//ˌoʊl(d)ˈhæt/

old hat noun: something regarded as very familiar and unoriginal, hackneyed, or out of date.

Noun (1)

old hat (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) Something regarded as very familiar and unoriginal, hackneyed, or out of date.
    • Oliver. What was the address about, to begin with? / Willie. Oh, the same old hat—Freedom.1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Touch and Go: A Play in Three Acts (Plays for a People’s Theatre; II), London: C[harles] W[illiam] Daniel, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 21
    • We curved through the bright mile or two of the Strip, […] past the Georgian-Colonial vogue, now old hat, past the handsome modernistic buildings in which the Hollywood flesh-peddlers never stop talking money, […]1940, Raymond Chandler, chapter 21, in Farewell, My Lovely: A Mystery, Tower Books edition, Cleveland, Oh.; New York, N.Y.: World Publishing Company, published October 1944, page 100

Adjective

old hat (comparative more old hat, superlative most old hat)

  1. (idiomatic) Very familiar and unoriginal; common, hackneyed, out of date.
    • [Noël] Coward is such an old hand at this kind of thing that he makes it seem old hat.1946 November 11, “The Theater: New Plays in Manhattan, Nov. 11, 1946 [review of Nöel Coward’s Present Laughter (written 1939)]”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
    • In fact, monorails are rather old hat.1964 July, “The Mythology of Monorails”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1

Noun (2)

old hat (countable and uncountable, plural old hats)

  1. (archaic, countable, slang) The female genitalia.
    • I ſhall conclude this learned Note vvith remarking, that the Term Old Hat, is at preſent uſed by the Vulgar, in no very honourable Senſe.[1743, Henry Fielding, “The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great. Chapter VI. Of Hats.”, in Miscellanies, […], volume III, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II...
    • Old hat; a vvoman's privities: becauſe frequently felt.[1788, [Francis Grose], “Hat”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Hooper, […], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    muff, prat
  2. (archaic, broadly, countable, derogatory, slang) A woman treated as a sexual partner.
    • VVhy, hovv novv, ye piece of old Hat, vvhat are ye muſty? the Jade's as muſty as a ſtale pot of Marmalade of her ovvn making.1697, [Thomas] d’Urfey, The Intrigues at Versailles: Or, A Jilt in All Humours: A Comedy, […], London: […] F. Saunders […], P. Buck […], R. Parker […], and H. Newman […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page...
    • Top-diver, a Lover of VVomen. An old Top-diver, one that has Lov'd Old-hat in his time.[1699], B. E., “Top-diver”, in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, […], London: […] W. Hawes […], P. Gilbourne […], and W. Davis […], →OCLC; reprinted [London]...
  3. (archaic, broadly, slang, uncountable) Sexual intercourse.
    • [S]he very pertly reply'd, She had done that not vvith 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 ovvn Puritanical...1723, Charles Walker, “Letter XI”, in Authentick Memoirs of the Life Intrigues and Adventures of the Celebrated Sally Salisbury. […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 103

old hat meaning in Tamil and Urdu

old hat in Tamil

பழ நாகரீகம்

old hat in Urdu

گھسی پٹی بات

Examples of old hat in a sentence

  • [I]t is old hat for a sex scandal to bring down a politician.1987 May 8, Elaine Sciolino, “Washington talk: The [Gary] Hart story grips the capital; foreigners amused and baffled”, in The New York...
  • 'Tis a Nest, a Niche, an Old Hat, an Omnibus, an Oyster, a Palace o' Pleasure.1980, Erica Jong, chapter XV, in Fanny, Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones […], New York, N.Y.: New American...

Synonyms of old hat

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of old hat

Forms of old hat

Adjective
comparativemore old hat
superlativemost old hat
alternative formold-hat
Noun
pluralold hats

Origin of old hat

From old + hat, possibly a reference to something familiar and well-used. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a connection to German alter Hut (“something familiar and hackneyed”, noun, literally “old hat”).

From old + hat, the significance being unknown.

Words that rhyme with old hat

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about old hat

What does old hat mean?
Old hat means something regarded as very familiar and unoriginal, hackneyed, or out of date.
What is old hat in Tamil?
Old hat in Tamil is பழ நாகரீகம். See Old hat meaning in Tamil.
How do you use old hat in a sentence?
[I]t is old hat for a sex scandal to bring down a politician.
What part of speech is old hat?
Old hat can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce old hat?
Old hat is pronounced /ˌəʊl(d)ˈhæt/ (UK).
What is the plural of old hat?
The plural of old hat is old hats.

Words near old hat in the dictionary

  1. Old Hairy
  2. old hand
  3. old hands
  4. Old Harbour
  5. Old Harry
  6. old hat
  7. old hats
  8. old head
  9. old head on young shoulders
  10. Old Hickory
  11. Old High Dutch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: old hat (page history and authors); old hat (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); old hat (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-old hat.wav, En-au-old hat.ogg.

Cite this entry: “old hat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/old_hat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.