eat one's hat

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eat one's hat (third-person singular simple present eats one's hat, present participle eating one's hat, simple past ate one's hat, past participle eaten one's hat)

1. (idiomatic) Used in a result clause to express disbelief in a proposition expressed in a conditional clause.

   He said he would eat his hat if more than ten people came. He'd better fetch a knife and fork!

• ethanoates