Meanings
- idiomaticnot comparableIn 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.
3 more examples
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; […]
1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter 1, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLCBut 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.
2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 42The notion that London will go cap in hand for a bailout too big for the IMF to deliver is absurd.
2022 October 5, Yanis Varoufakis, “Is This the End of ‘Socialism for the Rich’?”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 15 Oct 2022Synonyms: hat in hand
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbIn a humble and respectful manner.
Origin
From the act of removing one's headwear as a sign of respect or submission. Attested from the 19th century.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cap in hand. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cap%20in%20hand
“cap in hand.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cap%20in%20hand. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cap in hand,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cap%20in%20hand.
Source: cap in hand on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.