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Glite Dictionary
overseas cap

overseas cap

7.7
A small pointed hat worn with a military uniform that folds flat
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : gorro de campaña
  • As he marched in formation, his overseas cap sat snugly on his head.

Examples

  • One youngster in uniform even wears his overseas cap and asked does this look like the Argon?

  • After receiving their uniforms, the new cadets adjusted their overseas caps before heading out.

  • Dutch removed his overseas cap.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Get me those little overseas caps, number 9764-j in your catalog.

    It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

  • I looked out the window and saw the streets full of cadets in overseas caps, cop shoes, and paramilitary uniforms.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The recruits wore their overseas caps proudly during the graduation ceremony.

Synonyms

garrison cap
vsoverseas cap
  • US
7.9

A flat foldable cap worn with a military uniform

is similar but is usually not designed to fold

Surface Forms

overseas cap singular
overseas caps plural

Morphology

overseas + cap

A B1 learner who knows 'overseas' and 'cap' can reasonably infer that an 'overseas cap' is a type of cap associated with service or use abroad, so the general idea is compositional. However, the precise sense—a specific wedge-shaped, brimless military/uniform cap—is a culturally specific form not deducible from the constituents alone and would likely require prior exposure, so the expression is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Overseas cap may come from soldiers wearing a small, wedge-shaped cap when they went overseas to serve. The cap could fold and fit into a pocket on long trips, so the name came to mean the simple military cap worn with a uniform.