old hat

old hat

Meaning

• Someone who is old fashioned. The phrase can directly refer to old fashion too.
• Hackneyed, cliched or worn out.

Example Sentences

1. Ask that old hat to keep out of my business. She has a lot to correct in her own life first.
2. He maybe an old hat but knows so much about his trade that is sure to surprise you.
3. The grocer is an old hat, he will not give you a single penny of discount.
4. I am not sure why people think grandpa is an old hat, he has many fascinating ideas.
5. The dress that my mother wore for her wedding is an old hat now but it looked fantastic back in the day.

Origin
In the year 1911, the Cornish writer Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch used this phrase in his novel ‘Brother Copas'. Although he was referring to actual hats that were worn out. The term was in use in a much more vulgar sense prior to that and referred to a female private part in the ‘The Intrigues at Versailles' in 1697 and ‘A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue' in 1785. After Quiller-Couch's use of the term, however it was started to be used in the tone that is set for it today.