At the drop of a hat... HELP!!!?

Question

At the drop of a hat....What figure of speech is? I am stumped.

I understand the meaning...I just don't know what category of the figure of speech it falls under.

Answer 1

It's a metaphor:

"He's ready to fight at the drop of a hat. There seem to be many variations of this phrase. Where did it come from?
I notice that your query takes for granted the context of fighting, as do most of the written speculations about this phrase, but "it ain't necessarily so." If you're ready, willing, or able to do something--anything--at the drop of a hat, you'll do it without any delay. Of course if the setting is confrontational, you can still use the phrase to indicate that someone will fight at the slightest provocation.

The drop in at the drop of a hat carries the sense of 'an act or instance of dropping', and we presume that someone has let go of the hat deliberately. But as with most metaphors, the origin is a matter of opinion--several opinions.

Answer 2

A figure of speech is a non-literal expression. If you say "I could eat a horse," you're saying "I'm very hungry" and your objective is not to literally eat an entire horse. (Unless you're Rosie O'Donnell.)

Answer 3

If I said, "I'll do that at the drop of a hat," I mean that I'll do that immediately if you ask me to do it. I'm eager to do that.