Meaning of hat trick | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Any magic trick performed with a hat, especially one involving pulling an object (traditionally a rabbit) out of an apparently empty hat.
2. An achievement of a bowler taking three wickets in three consecutive balls.
   broadly
3. Three achievements in a single game, competition, season, etc., such as three consecutive wins.
   broadly
4. The act of striking out three times in a game.
   broadly, ironic, specifically
5. Three goals scored by one player in a game.
   broadly, specifically
6. Three tries scored by one player in a game.
   broadly, specifically
7. Three achievements or incidents that occur together, usually within a certain period of time.
   broadly
8. A means of securing a seat in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament placing their hat upon it during an absence.
   UK, historical, rare

Equivalents

Examples

“Ever heard of a Gordie Howe hat trick? It comprises a goal, an assist, and a fighting major penalty.”

“Jones got a hat trick yesterday. Let’s see if he can do better today.”

“In ice hockey, it’s customary for fans to throw their hats on to the rink after a player scores a hat trick.”

“The car salesman came home with front-row seats to the weekend game after achieving a hat trick by selling three cars that day.”

“And with the debut of his new series Hyperion Bay in 1998, [Joseph] Dougherty accomplished the rare "hat trick" in television: the pilot was written, executive-produced, and codirected by Dougherty.”

“Three murders in less than two weeks. That's a hat trick.”

“In these modern cities, anti-infection measures had to be imposed from the top down, by a central authority. To pull this off, the authority required three things: the ability to identify cases in a timely fashion, and so determine the infection's direction of travel; an understanding of how the disease spread (by water? air? insect vector?), and hence the measures that were likely to block it; and some means of ensuring compliance with those measures. When all three of these ingredients – which we'll describe in more detail in the following sections – were in place, containment could be extremely effective, but a hat-trick was rare.”

“Keir Starmer has heralded a “hat-trick of deals” with India, the US and the EU, telling MPs they will protect thousands of jobs and save businesses hundreds of millions of pounds.”

CEFR level