cap

cap in hand humbly asking for a favour.

☞ To have your cap in your hand, and therefore to have your head uncovered, is a mark of respect and also of subordination. The idea of a cap as a begging bowl into which coins can be dropped may also be present. A North American version of this expression is hat in hand.

a feather in your cap: seefeather.

fling your cap over the windmill(s): seewindmill.

if the cap fits, wear it used as a way of suggesting that someone should accept a generalized remark or criticism as applying to themselves.

☞ Early examples of this saying show that the cap in question was originally a fool's cap. The variant if the shoe fits, wear it is also found, mainly in North America.

put on your thinking cap: seethinking.

set your cap at try to attract as a suitor. dated

to cap it all: see to top it all attop.