cap in hand

From the act of removing one's headwear as a sign of respect or submission. Attested from the 19th century.

• "No longer were we required to go cap in hand to the banks if we wanted money: they were coming to us."
• "He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; […]"
• "But with income from fares largely wiped out, it has come at a price. TfL had to go cap-in-hand to central Government for money. In doing so, it had to agree to changes - interference, if you prefer that choice of word - that it previously would have resisted."
• "The notion that London will go cap in hand for a bailout too big for the IMF to deliver is absurd."

• hat in hand

• doff
• doff one's hat to
• poormouth