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hat trick

hat trick

9 3.7
Three scores by one player in the same game, for example three goals
  • noun
  • /hæt trɪk/
translation icon : triplete
  • Junior Liz Malone tallied a hat trick in the game, including the game winner.
  • scored a hat trick
  • scoring a hat trick
  • first hat trick

Now your third time, that's a hat trick on Startalk.

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Examples

  • Afoa notched a hat trick in her first game as a Pirate.

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  • 'Pelé scored a hat trick.'

  • Warren would finish a night with 3 goals, achieving her initial career hat trick.

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  • Matthews finished his career with 30 hat tricks, including 10 in his senior year.

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  • Whenever a guy gets a hat trick like David Estrada got tonight, it's a great performance for him.

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  • What's this hat trick that's happening right now?

  • Raul motored to his second goal of the night and nearly had a hat trick.

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  • Junior forward Brian McGinty led ASU with three goals and his first hat trick of the season.

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  • Ian Avery led Bow (13-1) with a hat trick, while Dan Crisman and David Chern each scored twice.

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  • During the match, he scored a brilliant hat trick, securing victory for his team.

Surface Forms

hat trick singular
hat tricks plural

Morphology

hat + trick

The sense 'three successes by one player' is not predictable from the literal meanings of 'hat' (a head covering) and 'trick' (a cunning act or skill); nothing in the constituents signals the number three or sports scoring. 'Hat trick' is a conventionalized sports idiom (historically and culturally specific) often borrowed into other languages, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would not reliably infer the full meaning.

Etymology

Hat trick may come from old cricket: when a player in cricket took three wickets in a row, people would give him a new hat or pass a hat around to collect money as a gift. That clear picture of three quick wins is why hat trick now means 'three successes' in a game.