Meaning
To take up a collection of money from a group of people, typically in an informal, spontaneous way for a shared gift, a colleague in difficulty, or performers. Also used more broadly of soliciting donations for any cause. Informal; suggests small-scale, voluntary fundraising rather than institutional charity. Regional use: General English, originally American (clothing origin).
Origin
The phrase comes directly from the literal practice, centuries old, of circulating a hat among a crowd to gather impromptu contributions - at gatherings, and among street performers and small touring companies paid by whatever landed in the hat. Idiom Origins dates the fixed expression for collecting money to the late 19th century, and Collins labels it US informal, explaining it as an allusion to the hat used as a collection receptacle. The anchor's account (the collection hat at informal gatherings) is therefore verified, with one refinement: the collecting practice is much older than the idiom, so the phrase is the late-Victorian fossilization of an ongoing custom rather than an invention of that period. No competing origin story is in circulation.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- pass the hat around
- pass the hat for
- passing the hat
- the hat was passed
Usage Examples
- After the storm damaged the roof, the neighbors passed the hat and raised enough for the repairs.
- We usually pass the hat around the office when someone leaves or has a baby.
- The choir passed the hat for new sheet music instead of raising ticket prices.