1. Syn. wizard hat. This synonym specifically refers to the wizards of Unseen University in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of humorous fantasies; these books are extremely popular among hackers.

[BSD hackers; common] Notional dunce cap handed to the original author of a bug that's been corrected. Unlike the wizard had, this is often self-assumed: “Somebody please pass me the pointy hat. I fouled up the distfile rather badly. This fixes it.”