dress hat
- noun
- /drɛs hæt/
Examples
-
A man with a dress hat sat inside.
Fiction book (1996) -
He wore a classic black dress hat to the formal gala last night.
-
For the wedding, all the men were required to wear a dress hat as part of their formal attire.
-
His elegant dress hat made a statement at the charity event, drawing compliments from many guests.
Synonyms
A tall hat with a flat top and straight sides worn with formal clothes
A hat made from soft brown fur, popular in the past
A tall hat with a straight high top once worn by men at formal events
A tall hat with straight sides that people wear with formal clothes in the 1800s
A tall formal hat with a high crown covered with silk
A tall formal hat with a flat top worn by men
A tall round hat for men worn on formal occasions
A classic formal hat like a top hat worn at weddings and ceremonies
A formal men's hat with a tall foldable crown worn to the theatre
A tall formal hat with a flat top and narrow brim worn by men
A tall shiny silk hat like a top hat worn in older times
How Fancy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'dress' (clothing/formal attire) with 'hat' so the meaning 'a hat worn for formal/dress occasions' is directly inferable from the constituents. This attributive use of 'dress' to mean 'formal' is a common compositional pattern cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely understand the MWE.
Etymology
Dress hat comes from the two words dress (to wear special clothes) and hat, and it gives a picture: a tall, shiny hat men put on when they 'dress up' for formal evenings, like the old top hat. That's why Dress hat means a man's formal hat worn on dress occasions.