A hat trick
Meaning
Achieving three successes or accomplishments, especially in sports, in a single game or rapid succession.
Origin
The year was 1858, and on a cricket pitch in Sheffield, England, a legend was born. H.H. Stephenson, a bowler for an all-England XI, delivered three perfect balls that shattered the stumps of three consecutive batsmen. This unprecedented feat of skill and precision was so astonishing that the delighted spectators, moved by his prowess, took up a collection to buy him a brand new hat. The gesture became the standard tribute for such an extraordinary triple success, imprinting the term 'hat trick' onto the lexicon of cricket, from where it quickly spun its way into other sports and, eventually, into our everyday language to signify any remarkable trio of achievements.
Examples
- The star forward delighted the crowd by scoring a hat trick in the first half of the match.
- After closing three major sales deals in one week, the manager congratulated her team on pulling off a hat trick.