Where does the term hat-trick come from?

From cricket, and from an actual hat. When a bowler took three wickets with three consecutive deliveries, it was traditional for a collection to be taken up or for the club to present him with a hat to mark the feat.

The term is generally dated to 1858 and associated with the English bowler H. H. Stephenson, who took three wickets in three balls playing for an All-England eleven. A collection was made among spectators and the proceeds presented in a hat. The phrase appears in print shortly afterwards and spread from cricket into other sports.

What it means now varies by sport, which is a common source of confusion.

Cricket keeps the original strict sense: three wickets in three consecutive deliveries by the same bowler. The deliveries may span two overs or even two innings.

Football uses it loosely for three goals by one player in a match. They need not be consecutive. A perfect hat-trick means one with the left foot, one with the right and one header. Tradition holds that the scorer keeps the match ball.

Ice hockey also means three goals in a game, and has the custom of spectators throwing hats onto the ice.

Rugby, field hockey and handball follow the football pattern.

Beyond sport the phrase has spread to mean any three consecutive successes, which is how it turns up in politics and business writing.

A fourth goal has no widely agreed name. Haul is sometimes used, and in cricket four wickets in four balls is simply called that — no hat is involved.