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set one's cap at. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
set one's cap at, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
set one's cap at in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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set one's cap at, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Probably a calque of French mettre le cap sur (“to set a course for”).
Pronunciation
Verb
set one's cap at (third-person singular simple present sets one's cap at, present participle setting one's cap at, simple past and past participle set one's cap at)
- (idiomatic) To choose a man as a potential husband (for a girl).
1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:To hear her rant, one would have supposed, who had not seen him, that her lank-haired, grimly partner, was the prettiest youth in the county of Dublin, and that all the comely lasses in Chapelizod and the country round were sighing and setting caps at him […]
- (idiomatic, more generally) To choose something as a goal.
- Patrick O'Brian, "HMS Surprise".
- How he has escaped marriage until now I cannot tell: the number of caps set in his direction would furnish a warehouse.
Translations
to choose a man as a potential husband for a girl
to choose something as a goal
References
- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary