Meaning
To begin thinking carefully and seriously about a problem, especially one needing sustained concentration rather than a quick reaction. Very often an invitation or instruction to the listener to concentrate properly. Light, slightly whimsical register; frequently used by teachers or parents with children, without being childish. Regional use: General English (clothing origin).
Origin
The anchor checks out: the expression replaced 'considering cap', which is documented from 1605, when Robert Armin wrote in Foole upon foole that 'the Cobler puts off his considering cap'. The older term was still alive enough to be parodied in The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765), whose chapter 'The whole History of the Considering Cap' describes a charm against bad temper inscribed with mottos like 'I MAY BE WRONG'. For the modern form, Word Histories gives an 1821 citation from the Western Carolinian of Salisbury, North Carolina ('put his thinking-cap on'), while The Phrase Finder's own search found 1857 in the Kenosha Times as the earliest - a modest discrepancy between researchers, not a dispute about substance. No real thinking or considering cap has ever been found; both sites treat the headgear as imaginary from the start. The often-repeated story that judges donned a formal 'considering cap' when passing sentence is rejected as folk etymology, since the early citations are not judicial; a general jocular metaphor about headgear for the intellect (helped by the alliteration) is the better explanation.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- don your thinking cap
- get your thinking cap on
- put your thinking cap on
- thinking caps on
Usage Examples
- Before you commit to a mortgage that size, put on your thinking cap and run the numbers twice.
- The committee put on its collective thinking cap and found three cheaper ways to finish the bridge.
- Put your thinking cap on, because this crossword gets genuinely nasty after the first few clues.