cap in hand
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Humbly asking for a favour.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Virgin were the only company that could pull him out of the hole, and it was to Virgin that McLaren now turned, cap in hand.
Even a president whose party controls both the House and the Senate is obliged to approach the legislature more or less cap in hand as he seeks approval for his programme.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “cap in hand” mean?
Humbly asking for a favour.
Is “cap in hand” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.