brick in someone's hat
- idiom
- Offensive
:
idiota
- You must have a brick in your hat to believe such a wild story.
Examples
-
Suggesting we drive across the country in one day—do you have a brick in your hat?
-
After that mistake, everyone thought he had a brick in his hat.
-
Don't be such a brick in your hat!
-
Why do you act like a brick in your hat sometimes?
-
After that mistake, everyone thought he had a brick in his hat because he was so confused.
-
Suggesting we drive across the country in one day—do you have a brick in your hat to think that's a good idea?
-
You must have a brick in your hat to believe such a wild story without any evidence.
Synonyms
8
8.0
Very stupid and not thinking clearly
1
9.1
Confused and unable to think clearly
1
9.9
Very foolish and not sensible or responsible
1
7.9
Being very foolish and showing poor judgment
1
8.3
Not able to think clearly or make good decisions
1
8.1
Not quick to understand or learn new things
Silly and confused in the way someone thinks
Slow to understand or learn things
Slow to understand things and often acting foolishly
Very stupid and not able to think clearly
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The gloss 'foolish, confused, or out of touch' cannot be straightforwardly derived from the literal parts: a brick (a heavy block) + in + someone's + hat does not transparently map onto that meaning, and the provided non‑standard gloss of 'brick' further obscures compositional logic. This appears to be an idiosyncratic or rare expression with no clear metaphorical or cross‑linguistic pattern that would signal 'foolishness' to a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words. Therefore the meaning is unpredictable from the parts and would be opaque to learners.
Etymology
Brick in someone's hat may come from the funny image of a heavy brick sitting in a person's hat, making them unsteady and slow to think. So, calling someone that means they are 'foolish' or 'confused'.