Definition of "hat trick" []

• Sports Three goals scored by one player in one game, as in ice hockey. (noun)
• Sports Three wickets taken in cricket by a bowler in three consecutive balls. (noun)
• Sports Three consecutive wins or outstanding accomplishments by the same individual, such as a jockey in horse racing. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This is somewhat of a literary hat trick for me: As a nine-year-old boy, I received my first rejection letter from Rod Serling; years later, as a young cub reporter, I witnessed the first burgeoning seeds of the Watergate scandal."