Choose the correct meaning of idiom: Throw one’s hat into the ring

Correct — B. To throw your hat into the ring is to announce that you are entering a contest, such as an election.

The phrase comes from boxing: a hat thrown into the ring was a challenge to a boxer. The hat going in means stepping forward to compete, which is announce one's candidacy or challenge → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Resign from a position — Resign is the opposite movement. Throwing your hat in means stepping into a contest, not stepping down from a post.
• (c)
  Declare outright defeat — Declare outright defeat is throw in the towel. In boxing the towel went in to concede a fight, and the hat went in to start one.
• (d)
  Bet recklessly — Bet recklessly reads throw as throwing money away. No wager is involved: you enter the contest yourself.

An idiom means something its words do not say literally. No hat and no ring are involved when a politician throws a hat into the ring.

The picture is a boxing ring. A hat thrown into it once signalled a challenge to a boxer. Today the phrase means putting yourself forward for any contest: an election, a post, a race.

Key facts

• Throw one's hat into the ring: to announce that you are entering a contest, such as an election.
• It is also written throw one's hat in the ring.
• Throw in the towel: to give up or admit defeat.
• Candidacy is the state of being a candidate for election or selection.

Common traps

• Reading throw as getting rid of something, which pulls you towards resign or defeat
• Confusing it with throw in the towel, which means the opposite: giving up

No directly related past PYQ was found.