cap in hand

English

Etymology

From the act of removing one's headwear in a sign of respect or submission. Attested from the 19th century.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adverb

cap in hand (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) In a humble and respectful manner.

   No longer were we required to go cap in hand to the banks if we wanted money: they were coming to us.

   • 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter 1, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC:

     He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; […]

   • 2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 42:

     But with income from fares largely wiped out, it has come at a price. TfL had to go cap-in-hand to central Government for money. In doing so, it had to agree to changes - interference, if you prefer that choice of word - that it previously would have resisted.

   • 2022 October 5, Yanis Varoufakis, “Is This the End of ‘Socialism for the Rich’?”, in The Atlantic‎^[1], retrieved 2022-10-15:

     The notion that London will go cap in hand for a bailout too big for the IMF to deliver is absurd.

Synonyms

• hat in hand

See also

• doff
• doff one's hat to
• poormouth

References

• “cap in hand”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.