"tin hat" - Word of the Day from the OED

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tin hat

SECOND EDITION 1989

slang.

    1. a. A metal hat or helmet; spec. a steel helmet worn for protection against shrapnel. Chiefly Mil.

1903 A. M. BINSTEAD Pitcher in Paradise viii. 194 A Tommy in a tin hat as I squared with a couple o'blow. 1917 W. E. MOLESWORTH Let. Mar. in A. J. L. Scott Sixty Squadron R.A.F. (1920) iii. 38 We managed to collect some tin hats, bombs,..and a few other odds and ends. 1923 Sci. Amer. Nov. 360/2 The trench hat, ‘the old tin hat’, is coming into quite extensive use as a means of head protection against small falls of rock in mines. 1932 G. CAMPBELL Number Thirteen vii. 107, I happened to be dressed in a rather extraordinary rig, consisting of a tin hat, a naval monkey-jacket, grey flannel trousers, and puttees. 1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 563 ‘Tin Hats’ for the Heads of Britain's Defenders. 1961 JOSWICK & KEATING Combat Cameraman xiv. 124 An upside-down tin hat lay nearby. 1976 ‘A. HALL’ Kobra Manifesto vi. 86 We haven't got a single tin hat in the place... Not even a blinking first aid kit!

    b. A general officer. Cf. brass-hat s.v. BRASS n. 7. Mil. Obs.

1919 Athenæum 18 July 632/2 May I add one or two more army slang terms? ‘Tin hat’ or ‘brass hat’ for general officer.

    2. Used predicatively, usu. in pl.: drunk.

1909 J. R. WARE Passing Eng. 246/2 Tin hat (Anglo-Port Said), drunktwo tin hats very drunkthree, incapable, and to be carried on board. 1916 ‘TAFFRAIL’ Pincher Martin ii. 24 ‘No, sir, not drunk, only a bit shaky like,’ I sez, though I knowed orl the time I'd bin properly tin 'ats. 1919 W. LANG Sea-Lawyer's Log 69 If you do come off tin 'ats (i.e. inebriated), go quietly below to the Mess Deck.

    3. Phr. to put the tin hat on (it, things, etc.): to bring something to a (usu. unwelcome) close or climax. Cf. to put the lid on s.v. LID n. 1e.

1919 Athenæum 8 Aug. 727/2 The shrapnel helmet was invariably a ‘tin hat’, and ‘to put the tin hat on it’ is..‘to ki-bosh it’. 1927 ‘SAPPER’ Saving Clause i. 22 This second exhibition of cowardice had put the tin-hat on. 1933 WODEHOUSE Mulliner Nights vii. 225 It was the limit, he felt, the extreme edge. It put the tin hat on things. 1943 ‘C. DICKSON’ She died a Lady xx. 177 Next..came the point that put the tin hat on it. 1977 J M. JOHNSON in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. viii. 244 He reflected that, at the time, he thought his efforts had ‘put the tin hat on it’.

    Hence tin-hatted a., wearing a metal helmet or helmets.

1926 British Worker 10 May 2/3 At the Iron Bridge, at Canning Town, I met a half company of soldiers, tin-hatted, and with rifles and packs, marching into the docks. 1940 HARRISSON & MADGE War begins at Home iii. 46 A tin-hatted policeman began to push the crowd back. 1978 E. MALPASS Wind brings up Rain xxvi. 232 A tin-hatted Air Raid Warden.

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