setting her cap at him
Preserved but no longer current.
Trying to catch him for a sweetheart or a husband. In the days when ladies habitually wore caps they would naturally put on the most becoming, to attract the attention and admiration of the favoured gentleman.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “setting her cap at him” mean?
Trying to catch him for a sweetheart or a husband. In the days when ladies habitually wore caps they would naturally put on the most becoming, to attract the attention and admiration of the favoured gentleman.
Is “setting her cap at him” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.