Meanings
present singular third person throws one's cap over the windmill · participle present throwing one's cap over the windmill · past threw one's cap over the windmill · participle past thrown one's cap over the windmill
- datedidiomaticTo act in a bizarre, eccentric or immoral manner.
Besides, Suzanne had already thrown her bonnet over the windmill.
1934, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Nine Tailors2 more examples
Awfully commercial, women nowadays. Our grandmothers threw their caps over the mills, of course, but, by Jove, their granddaughters only throw their caps over mills that can raise the wind for them.
1892, Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, Act IIIEven Catherine’s own mother scandalized her daughter by succumbing to the contagion of the place, and “throwing her cap over the windmill,” as the French have it.
1914, E. A. Brayley Hodgetts, The Life of Catherine the Great of RussiaSynonyms: throw one's hat over the windmill
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo act in a bizarre, eccentric or immoral manner.
Origin
Probably a calque of French jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins . Widely reported as deriving from a passage in the novel Don Quixote in which the titular character throws his cap over a windmill that he has mistaken for a giant, as a challenge. However, no such passage exists in the book.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
throw one's cap over the windmill. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/throw%20one's%20cap%20over%20the%20windmill
“throw one's cap over the windmill.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/throw%20one's%20cap%20over%20the%20windmill. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “throw one's cap over the windmill,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/throw%20one's%20cap%20over%20the%20windmill.
Source: throw one's cap over the windmill on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.