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cap in hand. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cap in hand, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cap in hand in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cap in hand you have here. The definition of the word
cap in hand will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
cap in hand, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From the act of removing one's headwear in a sign of respect or submission. Attested from the 19th century.
Pronunciation
Adverb
cap in hand (not comparable)
- (idiomatic) In a humble and respectful manner.
No longer were we required to go cap in hand to the banks if we wanted money: they were coming to us.
1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter 1, in Tom Brown at Oxford: , (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC:He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; […]
2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 42:But with income from fares largely wiped out, it has come at a price. TfL had to go cap-in-hand to central Government for money. In doing so, it had to agree to changes - interference, if you prefer that choice of word - that it previously would have resisted.
2022 October 5, Yanis Varoufakis, “Is This the End of ‘Socialism for the Rich’?”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 2022-10-15:The notion that London will go cap in hand for a bailout too big for the IMF to deliver is absurd.
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