Where Does The Phrase Throw Hat In The Ring Come From
This expression comes from the sport of boxing.
Where does the phrase throw hat in the ring come from. Origin of Throw Your Hat in the Ring. My hats in the ring. A customer wrote us with the following.
This term comes from boxing where throwing a hat in the ring formerly indicated a challenge. Hat in the ring to putthrow ones. This expression comes from boxing where in the early nineteenth century the practice of throwing ones hat into the ring indicated a challenge.
Today the idiom nearly always refers to political candidacy. Hat in the Ring the motto of the 94th Fighter Squadron of the United States Air Force. Evidently it was the custom on the American frontier for a pugilist to literally throw his hat into the ring as a way of announcing that he was prepared to take on anyone in the crowd.
After Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California it seemed like all sorts of celebrities tried tossing their hats in. The first use of the phrase in a political context was probably in 1912 when Theodore Roosevelt announced his intention to challenge William Howard Taft for the US. In the past if a person wanted to fight he could throw his hat into the boxing ring.
The phrase is derived from what you would do before you climb over a wall - you throw the hat over to the other side so it doesnt fall off while you are climbing. This expression comes from boxing where in the early nineteenth century the practice of throwing ones hat into the ring indicated a challenge. That the phrase throw ones hat in the ring comes from a practice of 19th Century saloon keepers putting a boxing ring in the middle of the barroom so that customers who wanted to fight each other would have a place to do so without starting a donnybrook.
Throwing ones hat in the ring means announcing ones intention to compete in a contest. It comes from the boxing ring In the early 19th century anyone who wanted to challenge a boxer would throw his hat into the ring. Today the idiom nearly always refers.