# throw one's cap over the windmill

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/throw-ones-cap-over-the-windmill
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To act in a bizarre, eccentric or immoral manner.

## Examples

- He threw his cap over the windmill and quit his job suddenly.
- You throw your cap over the windmill by ignoring every rule at the office.
- He throws his cap over the windmill whenever he acts this strangely in public.
- After years of being sensible, she threw her cap over the windmill and moved to a remote island.
- The quiet accountant threw his cap over the windmill when he spent his entire life savings on a vintage race car and joined a dangerous cross-country competition.
- She decided to throw her cap over the windmill by ending her long engagement and moving to a city where she did not know a single person.
- The professor threw his cap over the windmill by abandoning his academic career to pursue a life as a traveling circus performer.

## Origin

Probably a calque of French jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins . Widely reported as deriving from a passage in the novel Don Quixote in which the titular character throws his cap over a windmill that he has mistaken for a giant, as a challenge. However, no such passage exists in the book. (disputed)

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.