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Glite Dictionary
silly hat

silly hat

2 2.8
A hat worn for fun, often at parties
  • noun
translation icon : sombrero tonto
  • The ladies stood out in their bright clothes and silly hats.
  • wear silly hats

Examples

  • The ladies stood out in their bright clothes and silly hats.

  • These society events can be pretty painful, everyone leering at the camera in silly hats, pretending to be having a good time.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • How many hours did you spend making that silly hat ?

    Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

  • The hours he spent making that silly hat.

    Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

  • Move and I'll blow that silly hat off!

    The Hot Touch (1982)

  • - Take off that silly hat, moron.

    Roommates (1995)

  • Look at all those silly hats.

    Far and Away (1992)

  • Silly hat, bit of a goof?

    Rock Dog (2016)

  • A befuddled little man in a silly hat is standing with his hand upraised.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • What a silly hat, Tate thought, chuckling to himself.

Synonyms

fool's cap
vssilly hat
  • Archaic
9.9

A cone-shaped paper hat teachers put on students' heads to shame them long ago

is meant for playful amusement at parties rather than to shame someone

Surface Forms

silly hat singular
silly hats plural

Morphology

silly + hat

The meaning 'a hat designed to be humorous or whimsical' is directly and predictably derived from the adjective 'silly' modifying the noun 'hat' in a standard adjective+noun composition. This is a transparent, compositional pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the phrase's meaning.

Etymology

Silly hat comes from the simple image of a hat made to look silly. People at festivals and parties wear bright, strange hats to make others laugh, so it now means a hat made to be 'funny' or for 'entertainment'.