hatter
part of speech
noun (a hatter, hatters); a name (the Mad Hatter)
meaning for a pupil
1) A person who makes or sells hats. tree →
2) (idiom) «As mad as a hatter» means very crazy or silly. tree →
3) (a name) The Mad Hatter, a character in «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll. tree →
4) In old Southern dialect, "hatter" is said for "have to", as in "I hatter go". tree →
sense in the lessons
In reading lessons the Mad Hatter hosts a crazy tea party in «Alice in Wonderland». In history, hatters once used mercury to make felt hats, which could make them ill and act strangely; this may explain the saying «mad as a hatter». Phrases: mad as a hatter, the Mad Hatter's tea party.
examples
- The Mad Hatter's tea party never ended. tree →
- A hatter made top hats for the gentlemen. tree →
- My uncle is as mad as a hatter, but very kind. tree →
- Old hatters often became ill from the mercury in their work. tree →
- The hatter measured my head for a new cap. tree →
- We dressed up as the Mad Hatter for World Book Day. tree →
- Bimeby you'll drap off en I'll hatter tote you up ter de big 'ouse. tree →
note
Plural: hatters. Double t. «Mad as a hatter» is a jokey idiom; it is not kind to use «mad» about real mental illness. The work used to be dangerous because of mercury, a poison.
In the corpora
- When Alice asks the answer to the riddle, the Hatter says he has not the slightest idea.
- At the table sit the March Hare, the Hatter and the Dormouse, who is fast asleep and used as a cushion.
- «The Dormouse is asleep again,» says the Hatter, and he pours a little hot tea upon its nose.
- The Hatter finishes his tale: the Queen screamed «He's murdering the time!
- When the Hatter sang at the concert, the Queen «bawled out» (shouted) «He's murdering the time!
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «hatter» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.