ENGLISH
REFERENCE

old hat

idiom
Meaning

Something regarded as very familiar and unoriginal, hackneyed, or out of date.

Origin

disputed origin

From old + hat, possibly a reference to something familiar and well-used. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a connection to German alter Hut (“something familiar and hackneyed”, noun, literally “old hat”).

Examples
SIMPLE

That old joke is old hat to me now.

CONTEXTUAL

I have worked in this office for ten years, so these new rules are old hat.

COMPLEX

While the critics dismissed the director's latest film as old hat, the loyal audience still found the familiar themes comforting.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    all hat and no cattle

    Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.

  2. 02

    all hat and no cowboy

    Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.

  3. 03

    any old nook or cranny

    Alternative form of any nook or cranny.

  4. 04

    bad old days

    The past, seen as a time when things were worse.

  5. 05

    big old

    Emphatically or impressively big; really big.

  6. 06

    black hat

    A villain in a story, especially in a Western (a film or other work of the Western genre).

  7. 07

    brick in one's hat

    Drunkenness.

  8. 08

    buy straw hats in winter

    Of stocks, to buy when both demand and price are low, so as to sell when demand and price are high.

Last updated April 17, 2026