Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also cadee, cadi, cadie) a hat.

1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 8 Oct. n.p.: Smith [...] made a grab for her ‘cady’.
1851		G. Thompson Jack Harold 60: I got a pair of flash kicks, a tog and cady too.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 8/2: In a few minutes the ‘office’ was given by raising the ‘cady’ and forward we hurried.
1876		St Louis Globe-Democrat 19 Jan. n.p.: Whereupon, the party addressed takes an inventory of his friend’s clothes and [...] as to his head-covering, he thinks had better ‘shoot that tile’ and buy a new ‘dice,’ as ‘cadies’ of that style are out of fashion.
1880		J.F. Macardle Moko Marionettes 4: peter: That doesn’t so much matter; you’ve lost your hat! have mine, sir! vere: What are decayed cadees to a bruised heart?
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 2: Castor - A hat. Also, Cadi.
1887		Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 23 Oct. 4/1: A hat is a ‘dicer’ or cady.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 21 Sept. 1/4: He was still wandering disconsolately round [...] looking for his cady.
1891		H. Lawson ‘The Beauty and the Dude’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 124: A masher raised his cady / (I don’t want to be rude).
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 55: He walked straight into this kitchen clobbered in a pair of rounds, tight to his legs, [...] and a long sleeve cadi on his napper, and a pair of turtles on his martins.
c.1895		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] You ain't ashamed o' me, are you, Bill? 🎵 ‘You didn’t expect a lady, / Under e coster’s “cady?”’.
1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 88: To have lost the climax [of a fight] and my ‘cady’ together was very irritating.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 292: Turban’s won in a (—) walk! Formerly ran as the Calico Cadi colt.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 242: He passed ’er with his ’ead up, ’n’ his nose high, ’n’ his cady balanced on ther bridge iv it.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Aug. 3s/5: John Hop in a straw cadie.
1910		H. Champion ‘Ginger, You’re Balmy’ [monologue] I do without a cady, / It saves me half a quid.
1914		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 6 May 3/2: That there badge what’s on their cady / I did never see the like.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 362: What would the public think of a desperate smuggler in a Dunlop cady and [...] light cloth-top patent leathers?
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 43: Cady: The ‘Kilmarnock’ or ‘Balmoral’ caps worn in Scottish Regiments.
1933		M. Marshall Tramp-Royal on the Toby 4: Is it my daisies that draw your gaze? Or my sun-green cadie?
1933		Eve. Post (N.Z.) 17 June 12/8: I doffs me cady, pulls me forelock.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 2: Cadie: Hat or cap.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 330: cadie : Hat.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

2. (N.Z.) a straw hat.

1938		(con. 1919–23) R. Hyde Godwit’s Fly (1970) 92: School regulation costume [c1919–23]: navy serge gym. costume [...] black band with college colours about your hat, which is in winter a straw cady, making a thick red furrow on your forehead [DNZE].
1941		Baker N.Z. Sl. 55: Other terms which probably hailed from the country are [...] cady or kadi, a straw hat.
1977		Dominion (Wellington) 20 Aug. 11: The correct headgear for the boy of the period was either a tight-fitting college cap [...] or, at holiday time, a ‘cady’ [DNZE].
1981		M. Gee Meg 103: They named me Plumb Jam because of my straw cady.