set one's cap at
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editProbably a calque of French mettre le cap sur (“to set a course for”).
Pronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
editset one's cap at (third-person singular simple present sets one's cap at, present participle setting one's cap at, simple past and past participle set one's cap at)
- (idiomatic) To choose a man as a potential husband (for a girl).
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
- To hear her rant, one would have supposed, who had not seen him, that her lank-haired, grimly partner, was the prettiest youth in the county of Dublin, and that all the comely lasses in Chapelizod and the country round were sighing and setting caps at him […]
- (idiomatic, more generally) To choose something as a goal.
- Patrick O'Brian, "HMS Surprise".
- How he has escaped marriage until now I cannot tell: the number of caps set in his direction would furnish a warehouse.
- Patrick O'Brian, "HMS Surprise".
Translations
editto choose a man as a potential husband for a girl
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to choose something as a goal
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References
edit- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary