hat trick

plural hat tricks · alternative hat-trick · alternative hattrick

1. literalAny magic trick performed with a hat, especially one involving pulling an object (traditionally a rabbit) out of an apparently empty hat.
2. An achievement of a bowler taking three wickets in three consecutive balls.
   1. broadlyball gamesThree achievements in a single game, competition, season, etc., such as three consecutive wins.

      Ever heard of a Gordie Howe hat trick? It comprises a goal, an assist, and a fighting major penalty.

   2. broadlyironicspecificallyball gamesThe act of striking out three times in a game.

      Jones got a hat trick yesterday. Let’s see if he can do better today.

   3. broadlyspecificallyball gamesThree goals scored by one player in a game.

      In ice hockey, it’s customary for fans to throw their hats on to the rink after a player scores a hat trick.

   4. broadlyspecificallyball gamesThree tries scored by one player in a game.
   5. broadlygenerallyball gamesThree achievements or incidents that occur together, usually within a certain period of time.

      The car salesman came home with front-row seats to the weekend game after achieving a hat trick by selling three cars that day.

      4 more examples

      And with the debut of his new series Hyperion Bay in 1998, [Joseph] Dougherty accomplished the rare "hat trick" in television: the pilot was written, executive-produced, and codirected by Dougherty.

      2002, Douglas Heil, “From Office Temp to ‘Hat Trick’ Showrunner: Interview with Joseph Dougherty”, in Prime Time Authorship: Works about and by Three TV Dramatists (The Television Series), Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 129

      Three murders in less than two weeks. That's a hat trick.

      2015, Les Roberts, “Milan”, in The Ashtabula Hat Trick (A Milan Jacovich/Kevin O’Bannion Mystery), Cleveland, Oh.: Gray & Company, →ISBN, page 51

      In these modern cities, anti-infection measures had to be imposed from the top down, by a central authority. To pull this off, the authority required three things: the ability to identify cases in a timely fashion, and so determine the infection's direction of travel; an understanding of how the disease spread (by water? air? insect vector?), and hence the measures that were likely to block it; and some means of ensuring compliance with those measures. When all three of these ingredients – which we'll describe in more detail in the following sections – were in place, containment could be extremely effective, but a hat-trick was rare.

      2017 May, Laura Spinney, “Chalking Doors with Crosses”, in Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: PublicAffairs, published September 2017, →ISBN, part 4 (The Survival Instinct), page 91

      Keir Starmer has heralded a “hat-trick of deals” with India, the US and the EU, telling MPs they will protect thousands of jobs and save businesses hundreds of millions of pounds.

      2025 May 20, Kiran Stacey, “Keir Starmer says ‘hat-trick of deals’ shows Britain is back on world stage”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

3. UKhistoricalraregovernmentA means of securing a seat in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament placing their hat upon it during an absence.