🧥 A coatroom 🧥 To leave at coatroom 🎟️ A claim ticket

to hat check

4.9

To leave a hat or coat with an attendant to keep it safe

phrasal verb

: dejar en el guardarropa

Before the concert, they decided to hat check their heavy coats at the entrance.

Examples

Please hat check your coat before entering the restaurant.
Did you hat check your scarf at the theater?
You can hat check your belongings at the theater to avoid carrying them inside.
She forgot to hat check her umbrella and had to keep it with her during the event.
Before entering the theater, they decided to hat check their coats to enjoy the show without carrying them.
Make sure to hat check your winter jacket at the venue's entrance to keep it safe.
At the gala, guests were asked to hat check their heavy coats with the attendant before heading inside.

Synonyms

to check

vsto hat check

327 2.8

Give a coat or bag to someone to keep until later

is specific to leaving outerwear with an attendant and getting a ticket

Surface Forms

hat check infinitive

hat checked past

hat checked past participle

hat checking present participle

hat checks third person singular

Morphology

hat + check

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'hat' (a head covering) with 'check' (to hand over an item for temporary storage). This noun+verb composition follows common English patterns (as in 'check your coat') and is cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Hat check as a verb comes from the simple action of handing your hat to an attendant at the hat check counter and getting a ticket; this act of leaving something safe became the verb. So, to hat check something means 'to leave it with an attendant for safekeeping'.