to pass the hat
3
5.5
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
recaudar fondos
- At the fundraiser, we will pass the hat to collect donations for the local shelter.
- pass the hat to raise money
- pass the hat to raise
- pass the hat among friends
Examples
-
During the street performance, they decided to pass the hat for contributions from the audience.
-
We passed the hat and got money to bail her out.
Academic text (2005) -
- Now we're gonna pass the hat.
-
So how about we put on a dance performance in public, and pass the hat around?
-
We thought some extra cash might be more appreciated, so we passed the hat around.
-
Let's go ask Don Jeffries if he wants to pass the hat for a worthy cause.
-
Maybe we can pass the hat around to buy Zero a dictionary so he can look up the words 'morality' and 'equivalence.'
Blog text (11) -
Pass the hat around.
-
They'd been passing the hat for this country family, and they'd gotten up quite a nice chunk of change.
Fiction book (1997) -
After the charity event, we managed to pass the hat and raise enough money to help those in need.
Synonyms
5
3.6
Gather money from a group to give to a person in need or a charity
To ask for money to support a cause
How Formal
- Formal
19
5.8
96
2.7
363
2.1
5
3.6
- Informal
3
5.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'pass' (to hand/give) and 'hat' (a hat) transparently evoke the image of handing a hat around, so a learner can infer a physical action from the words. However, the specific conventional meaning 'solicit contributions' relies on a cultural/pragmatic practice (passing a hat to collect money) that is not purely compositional and may not be predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Pass the hat comes from street performers who would pass a hat around the audience so people could drop coins into it. That's why today pass the hat means 'to ask a group of people to give money'.