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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. B
INSTEAD Pitcher in Paradise viii. 194 A Tommy in a tin hat as I squared with a couple o'blow.
1917 W. E. M
OLESWORTH 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 J
OSWICK &
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. L
ANG 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. D
ICKSON
She died a Lady xx. 177 Next..came the point that put the tin hat on it.
1977 J M. J
OHNSON 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 & M
ADGE War begins at Home iii. 46 A tin-hatted policeman began to push the crowd back.
1978 E. M
ALPASS Wind brings up Rain xxvi. 232 A tin-hatted Air Raid Warden.
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