hang up one's hat

verb

To end one's career.

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Meanings

verbhang up one's hat (third-person singular simple present hangs up one's hat, present participle hanging up one's hat, simple past and past participle hung up one's hat)

present singular third person hangs up one's hat · participle present hanging up one's hat · participle past hung up one's hat · past hung up one's hat

  1. idiomaticTo end one's career.

    The film even picks up with his colleagues at the university throwing him a retirement party, but it never explores how Indy feels about finally hanging up his hat as a professor.

    2023 June 28, Lauren Coates, “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny review: Harrison Ford goes to the whip”, in AV Club
  2. idiomaticTo make oneself at home in someone's house.
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hang, hat.
Cite this entry
APA

hang up one's hat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hang%20up%20one's%20hat

MLA

“hang up one's hat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hang%20up%20one's%20hat. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hang up one's hat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hang%20up%20one's%20hat.

Source: hang up one's hat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.