ticket

 
Pronunciation: /ˈtɪkɪt/

noun

  • 1a piece of paper or card that gives the holder a certain right, especially to enter a place, travel by public transport, or participate in an event: admission is by ticket only
  • a receipt for goods that have been received.
  • (ticket to/out of) a method of getting into or out of (a specified state or situation): drugs are seen as the only ticket out of poverty companies that appeared to have a one-way ticket to profitability
  • 2a certificate or warrant, in particular:
  • an official notice of a traffic offence: the officer issued Rhodes a speeding ticket
  • a certificate of qualification as a ship’s master, pilot, or other crew member.
  • British a certificate of discharge from the army.
  • 3a label attached to a retail product, giving its price, size, and other details.
  • 4 [in singular] chiefly North American a list of candidates put forward by a party in an election: his presence on the Republican ticket
  • a set of principles or policies supported by a party in an election: he stood for office on a strong right-wing, no-nonsense ticket
  • 5 (the ticket) informal the desirable or correct thing: a wet spring would be just the ticket for the garden
  • 6 [with adjective] Scottish & US informal a person of a specified kind: I think you’re all a bunch of sick tickets

verb (tickets, ticketing, ticketed)

[with object]
  • 1issue (someone) with an official notice of a traffic offence: park illegally and you are likely to be ticketed
  • 2 (be ticketed) (of a passenger) be issued with a travel ticket: passengers can now get electronically ticketed (as adjective ticketed) ticketed passengers
  • North American be destined for a specified state or position: they were sure that Downing was ticketed for greatness
  • 3 (be ticketed) (of a retail product) be marked with a label giving its price, size, and other details: the sports jacket had been ticketed at two hundred dollars (as adjective ticketed) the ticketed price

Phrases

be tickets

South African informal be the end: if that man talks to the police, it’s tickets for him

have tickets on oneself

Australian/NZ informal be excessively proud of oneself: she dressed me up fit to kill and I must confess I had a few tickets on myself as I walked

punch one's ticket

US informal deliberately undertake particular assignments that are likely to lead to promotion at work: Giles had punched his ticket at all the right stops within the journal
(in sport) ensure one’s progress to a further contest or tournament: in scoring 13 points, they punched their ticket to the Super Bowl in Jacksonville

write one's (own) ticket

North American informal dictate one’s own terms: a woman with a PhD in engineering could write her own ticket at any Canadian school

Derivatives

ticketless

adjective

Origin:

early 16th century (in the general senses 'short written note' and 'a licence or permit'): shortening of obsolete French étiquet, from Old French estiquet(te), from estiquier 'to fix', from Middle Dutch steken. Compare with etiquette