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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

all hat and no cattle en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

In reference to cattle ranchers and the hats they stereotypically wear; also derives from people wearing cowboy hats as fashion, but who are not actually cowboys, i.e., a poser, or a pretentious and phony individual.

Meanings

  1. (US, idiomatic, not-comparable) Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.
    • 2007, John Saul, "Freewheeling", in Call It Tender, Salt Publishing, →ISBN, page 31, She slapped my backside. Yew ol’ cowpoke. I’m a cowpoke? Yew certainly are. All hat and no cattle.
    • "Big Hat, no cattle / Big head, no brain / Big snake, no rattle". 1999, Randy Newman, "Big Hat, No Cattle", from the album Bad Love, ASIN B00000J7R4, Uses variation of idiom in refrain
    • Drusilla: It's time, Angel. She's ready for you now, she's dancing, dancing with death. Spike: Big deal, he won't do anything. Our man Angel here likes to talk, but he's not much for action. All hat and no cattle. 1998, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "I Only Have Eyes for You" (roughly 24.5 minutes in)
    • 1985, Regis MacKenna, The Regis Touch: Million-Dollar Advice from America’s Top Marketing Consultant, Addison-Wesley Longman, Incorporated, →ISBN, page 27, There’s an old Texas saying about a cowboy who was “all hat and no cattle.” That is, he was all show and no substance.
    • 2001, Janis L. Edwards, "Running in the Shadows in Campaign 2000: Candidate Metaphors in Editorial Cartoons", in American Behavioral Scientist, Volume 44 Issue 12, page 2142, We expect a leader to be effective in his job, not just a public relations artist who is "all hat and no cattle."
    • c. 1982, Paul W. Cronin, quoted in Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein (Eds.), The American Elections of 1982, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (1983), →ISBN, page 82, They provided a lot of talk, what Texans refer to as “all hat and no cattle.”
    • 1980, Patricia Calvert, The Snowbird, Scribner, →ISBN, page 29, A fortune can be made on the prairie, and that's what me and Mr. B aim to do. Don't aim to be all hat and no cattle forever, let me tell you!

Synonyms

all erection, no ejaculation · all foam, no beer · big hat, no cattle · all crown, no filling · all bluff and bluster · all fart and no poo · all shot, no powder · all garnish and no meat · all show, no go · all retch and no vomit · all fur coat and no knickers · all hammer, no nail · all hat, no ranch · all talk and trousers · all lime and salt, no tequila · all booster, no payload · all talk · all mouth and no trousers · all wax and no wick · all bark and no bite · all talk and no action · all hat and no cowboy · all icing, no cake · all mouth and trousers · all talk and no cider · all sizzle and no steak · all sing, no dance · all motion and no meat