| 释义 |
top hat
Also top-hat.
1. a. A man's silk or beaver hat with high cylindrical crown; a tall or high hat.
1881M. E. Braddon Asph. xvi, She liked to have her son well-dressed and in a top-hat. 1883E. F. Knight Cruise of Falcon (1887) 222 Black men in coats and top-hats. 1886J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts xiii, How I do hate a top hat! 1905A. R. Wallace My Life I. 17 He always wore a top-hat—a beaver hat as it was then called, before silk hats were invented.
b. transf. A person of the kind or class that wears a top hat; an important or senior person (see also quot. 1938).
1936Amer. Speech XI. 221 The ermines and top-hats, the carriage trade of the early part of the century. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xix. 209 It's no good here, boys, there are too many top-hats (detectives). 1974Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 Oct. 7/1 Mr. White brought Mr. Benoit along to the Albany Club, and the Tory party tophats liked what they saw.
2. attrib.
a. With reference to the wearing of top hats.
b. Shaped like a top hat.
1902R. Hichens Londoners 159 Another top-hat Ascot! I wish the Prince would set the fashion of billycocks. 1958Engineering 14 Mar. 344/2 Shallow ‘top-hat’ sections are used for the horizontal rails. 1966Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 13 Dec. (1970) 461 Lyndon made a splendid toast. He said he wanted American art to be enjoyed at the grass-roots level, just as it is by the top-hat crowd. 1967M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World ii. 83 (caption) A ‘top-hat’ kiln loaded for firing.
3. Passing into adj. Designating insurance or pension schemes devised as a means of deferred payment for senior executives.
1952Economist 8 Nov. 417/1 ‘Top-hat’ contracts for higher executives. 1964Daily Tel. 16 Apr. 23/1 The annual check on senior executives under the ‘top-hat scheme’, because of the neurosis it created, was a pernicious plan. 1979Guardian 18 June 10/4 It would be good to know that the company car, the top hat pension,..will not survive the axe next spring.
Hence ˈtop-ˈhatted a., wearing a top-hat; ˈtop-ˈhatter, one who wears a top-hat.
1892Spectator 27 Feb. 305/1 To wonder at pig-tailed China and top-hatted Japan. 1892R. Buchanan in Pall Mall G. 19 July 3/2 Far from the realms of hansoms and top-hatters all. 1900Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 8/1 Of every social standing, from the top-hatted City man to the picturesque newspaper urchin. |