witch's hat

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English

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An orange traffic cone

Etymology

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From their conical shape, resembling the hats that witches are popularly believed to have worn.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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witch's hat (plural witches' hats)

  1. Hygrocybe conica, a small mushroom of the waxcap genus found in North America and Northern Europe.
  2. (Australia) A traffic cone.
    • 2018 January, “Standard Conditions for On-street (Temporary) Parking Permit”, in City of Newcastle[1]:
      The applicant may need to reserve the parking spaces by the placement of witches hats or by arranging with businesses/clients on the day.
    • 2017 April 6, Rebecca Parish, “No agencies own up as Killara locals search for witches hats owner”, in The Daily Telegraph[2]:
      Killara residents are fed up with picking up fallen witches hats on Stanhope Road.
    • 2022 December 28 (last accessed), “Multi-stage fitness”, in NSW Police[3]:
      The test is conducted over a 20 metre course marked with lines or witches hats, with applicants running continuously between the points.
  3. Alternative form of witch hat
    • 1995, Andrew Geeson, Noddy Annual, Egmont Books, →ISBN, page 51:
      Tessie had a witch's hat and that made Noddy laugh. "You'll never look bad enough to be a witch!" he said.
    • 2010, Jennifer Weiner, Fly Away Home, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 332:
      "Right here," said Lizzie, who had a witch's hat perched on her head. Underneath it she wore a loose black sweater, a long, tattered black skirt, black patterned hose, and ankle-high black boots.
    • 2017, Cynthia Staton, Life Lived Not Lost: A Journey of Hope, Morgan James Publishing, →ISBN, page 69:
      Immediately Victoria took off her headband that had a witch's hat on it and gave it to the girl. “Now you are a proper witch,” she said. The girl smiled and went out trunk or treating.
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see witch,‎ hat.
    We had finally found the witch, who was wearing a green top hat that seemed a bit out of place. As she looked up towards us, the wind blew the witch's hat off of the witch's head.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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