▪ I. ticket, n.1
(ˈtɪkɪt)
Also 6 Sc. tikket, -ett, tek-, ticet, tikk-, tykkatt, tik-, tek-, tecat, 6–7 Sc. tiket, 6–8 tickett, 7 tik-, tyckett, tiquet, Sc. tickket.
[In 16th c. (1528) tiket, aphetic form of *etiket, a. obs. F. etiquet ‘a little note, breuiate, bill, or ticket; especially such a one, as is stucke vp on the gate of a Court, signifying the seisure &c of an inheritance by order of iustice’; or the parallel F. étiquette ‘a ticket fastened within the mouth of a Lawyers booke bag, and containing the titles of the bookes, [etc.]; any inscription, superscription, title, note, or marke set on th'outside of a thing..; also, a token, billet, or ticket, deliuered for the benefit, or aduantage of him that receiues it’ (Cotgr.):—OF. estiquet(te (1387 in Hatz.-Darm.), f. estiquer, to stick, fix, from Teutonic; ad. OLG. stek-an = OHG. stehhan, Ger. stechen to stick, fix. The primary sense was ‘a little note or notice affixed to anything, a label’, whence extended as in Cotgrave, and in the senses below. It is notable that our earliest instances are Irish and Scotch; but English examples in some senses appear c 1600. See also etiquette, repr. a later sense of the Fr. word.]
1. a. A short written notice or document; a memorandum, a note, a billet. † in ticket, in writing (Sc.). Obs. exc. as in b, c.
This general sense is present in nearly all those that follow, which differ mainly in respect of the purpose or use to which the written statement or note is put.
| 1528 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 403 The Bailiefe shall not priese no flesh..unlesse he can get a tiket or bill of the merchanndes hand with the boucher to whom he had sold the same. 1589 Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 395 To present thair desiris in tikkatt to the Lordis compositouris. c 1600 Jas. VI in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 396/2 Sicc soumis as the Duike of Lenox hes in tickket. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 411 The Bankers..haue a meeting, and by certaine tickets in writing euerie man doth deliuer his opinion, what the price of Exchange ought to be. 1627 Ussher Lett. (1686) 374 The Bishop of Derry hath left with me his Ticket, wherein he undertakes to pay 50{pstlg} unto any one of the Captains to whom your Lordship shall appoint. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 157 If your ticket had overtaken me at Orleans, I had certainly returned to Paris. 1661 Pepys Diary 12 Apr., While I am now writing, comes one with a tickett to invite me to Captain Robert Blake's buriall. 1755 in Hist. Rev. Pennsylvania (1759), Every one votes as he pleases, the election being by written tickets, folded up and put in a box. 1760 Hooper in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 82 A page delivered him a ticket, importing that something had happened to the (late) King. |
b. spec. A written tender for ore, made by the smelter.
Cf. ticketing vbl. n. 2.
local.
| 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 287 The highest bidder or ticket should be the purchaser. a 1856 Paris in Jago Cornw. Gloss. (1882) 291 Those [agents] of various Companies..produce a sealed ticket of the price they will give for ore; and he whose ticket is highest, takes the ore. 1870 J. Percy Metall. Lead 496 Each Mine sends samples of its ore to the Smelters in various localities, along with a notice to the effect that tenders or tickets will be received up to a certain day, on which they will be opened and the highest offer accepted. |
c. Stock Exchange: see
quot. 1882–93.
| 1882–93 Bithell Counting-Ho. Dict. s.v. Ticket Day, The day for the passing of tickets between brokers and jobbers, by means of which they learn the amount of stocks and shares they have respectively to deliver or receive on the day following. 1912 Stock Exchange Ticket, All rights in respect of this ticket are hereby claimed. Ibid., If this Ticket be divided, insert Number and name of party dividing it, or New Ticket will not be paid for. |
2. a. A written notice for public information; formerly, a notice posted in a public place; a placard; now
esp. a slip of cardboard, metal, paper, etc., attached to an object, and bearing its name, description, price, or the like; a label, show-card.
(This may have been the original sense.)
| 1567 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 504 At the occasioun of sum tikkettis affixt on the Tolbuyth dur of Edinburgh, be his lettre sent to hir Majestie, [he] had desyrit James Erll Bothwell, and certane specifiit in the saidis tikkettis, to be apprehendit. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Buckingham. (1662) i. 137 Giving notice of the time to his Auditours in a ticket on the School-dores. 1691– [implied in ticket v. 1]. 1766 in Westm. Gaz. 22 Apr. (1910) 2/3 The seats in the House of Commons were begun to be taken for the members by pinning down a ticket with their names in such seats as they chose, which were reserved for them till prayers began. 1804 Aston's Manch. Guide 162 A ticket is affixed to each patient's bed, mentioning his name, and that of his physician or surgeon; the time of admission, and the diet ordered for him. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xl, The ticket in the window which announced ‘Apartments to Let’. 1851 Mantell Petrifact. iv. §1. 365 The same coloured margin as that on the ticket ‘Quartz’, surrounds every specimen of quartz in that Case. |
b. An official documentary notification of an offence,
esp. in connection with traffic regulations.
Cf. parking ticket s.v. parking vbl. n. 3 b.
orig. U.S.| 1930 Outlook 12 Feb. 249/1 He wrote the young professor a ticket for speeding. 1935 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra vii. 201 It was two blocks from the hotel, and he might get a ticket for parking, but if he couldn't get the ticket fixed it was worth the two-dollar fine to have things straightened out with Harry. 1956 S. Bellow Seize the Day (1957) ii. 46 Some fool puts advertising leaflets under your windshield wiper and you have heart failure a block away because you think you've got a ticket. 1964 M. Banton Policeman in Community iii. 62 A driver who made an illegal turn against a red light was ‘given a ticket’ (i.e. a citation was issued against him). 1981 C. Dexter Dead of Jericho xxxii. 176 Cheque for {pstlg}6, being the penalty fixed for the traffic offence detailed on the ticket. |
c. big (or large) ticket item, something expensive.
Cf. price ticket s.v. price n. 14.
N. Amer. colloq.| 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. b2/2 Buying plans for big ticket items are up since the previous survey in May and June. 1972 Mod. Law Rev. XXXV. 20 Legal aid does not seem to have made much difference, except with regard to large ticket items in middle class communities. 1975 Washington Post 28 Jan. a19/3 His proposed tax rebate obviously is designed to stimulate consumption of what is known in this week's argot as ‘big ticket items’ like cars. |
3. (More fully
visiting ticket.) A visiting-card. Now
Obs. or
dial.; also
Anglo-Ind.| 1673 [R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 142, I shall only therefore leave a ticket for his assignes. 1773 Lady M. Coke Jrnl. 30 Nov., Sir Horatio Mann..has desired me to leave a ticket with the Grande Maitresse to-morrow. 1778 Mrs. Thrale Let. to Johnson 11 Nov., Your visiting ticket has been left very completely in Wales. Was it the fashion to leave cards in Prior's time? 1782 F. Burney Cecilia i. iii, Why, a ticket is only a visiting card, with a name upon it; but we all call them tickets now. 1862 Thackeray Philip xiii, Poor dear Mrs. Jones..still calls on the ladies of your family and slips her husband's ticket upon the hall table. 1900 C. Lee Cynthia ii. 20 Mr. Gibbs come in just now..and left his ticket over the chimley. |
† 4. a. A writing in which something is certified or authorized; a certificate or voucher; a warrant, licence, permit. Also
fig.| 1529 Aberdeen Regr. (1844) I. 126 Conforme to the saidis maisteris of warkis tikatis. 1553 Exch. Rolls Scotl. XVIII. 377 Pas this rentell to the lard of Rawelloun..and kep this our tecat for your varrand. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, iii. ii, I am the king's purveyor..Here's my ticket, deny it if thou darest. 1615 Nottingham Rec. (1889) IV. 334 The Schoole Wardens shall not hencefurth pay or doo any reparacions vpon the howse..without a tyckett for the same vnder Maister Maior's hand. 1641 Evelyn Diary 28 Aug., He..then deliver'd me a ticket by virtue whereof I was made excise-free. 1675 V. Alsop Anti-sozzo 554 Paul would have past for a Righteous person upon his producing the Ticket of a blameless Conversation. |
b. = certificate n. 3 b.
slang. spec. an airman's or seaman's certificate of qualification.
| c 1900 Cutcliffe Hyne Master of Fortune i. (Cent. Suppl.), I'm Captain of the whole of this show now,..and I intend to be respected as such, and hold a full captain's ticket. 1907 M. Roberts Flying Cloud 7 Seventeen years before he got his ‘ticket’, his second greaser's, second mate's ticket, he served in the foc'sle before the mast. 1910 Flight 26 Nov. 970/1 He did rolling practice in the morning, straight flights before luncheon, circuits in the afternoon, and qualified for his ‘ticket’ before dark. 1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano iv. 111 If all goes well I'll be sailing from Vera Cruz in about a week. As quartermaster, you knew I had an a.b.'s ticket, didn't you? 1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xiii. 268 George..had eventually got his Mate's ticket. |
† c. A certificate given to children at Sunday school recording their progress in religious instruction,
esp. their readiness for confirmation.
Obs.| 1838 J. Romilly Diary 18 July (1967) 153 George went..to S{supt} Mary's vestry to be exam{supd} by M{supr} Carus:—he only asked him..‘the meaning of {oqq}Sacrament{cqq}’, & gave him his ticket. 1879 C. M. Yonge Burnt Out i. 11 Mother! mother! where's my ticket bag? Oh! my tickets! my tickets and my Bible and all my prize books! |
5. a. A slip, usually of paper or cardboard, bearing the evidence of the holder's title to some service or privilege, to which it admits him; as a
theatre-ticket,
railway or tramway ticket,
insurance-ticket,
lottery-ticket,
lecture-ticket,
platform-ticket,
communion-ticket,
member's ticket,
luncheon-ticket,
soup-ticket, etc.
meal ticket: see
meal n.2 4.
| 1673 Galston Sess. Rec. in Edgar Old Ch. Life Scot. (1885) 173 note, Several hunders of tickets ar distribute. 1682 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 179 The parties were invited by tickets, of which any man might have one for a guiney, it being the price thereof. 1697–8, 1710 [see lottery 5, 1]. 1710 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 40 The Tickett of a 1000 libs per annum for 32 Years. 1741 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 301 To those who were sufficiently recommended tickets were given. a 1845 Hood Double Knock 11 Sure he has brought me tickets for the play. 1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 626 The printing of tickets is effected by an ingeniously constructed machine. 1898 F. Montgomery Tony 17 You have got your ticket quite safe, haven't you? 1906 Macm. Mag. June 625 Subscribers may obtain from the Society supplies of food-tickets, each representing twopennyworth of food. Mod. Admission only by ticket. |
b. fig.| 1713 Steele Englishman No. 21. 135 Your Approbation is the Ticket by which they gain Admittance into your Paper. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 98 Well dressed, well bred, Well equipaged, is ticket good enough, To pass us readily through every door. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. xi, Within a month after this day, Mr. Addison's ticket had come up a prodigious prize in the lottery of life. 1864 Soc. Sc. Rev. I. 409 Men who have robbed employers, or in some other way sullied their fair fame (in cab language ‘lost the ticket’) but who have not been..prosecuted, easily become cabmen. |
c. to have tickets on (a person or thing), to have a strong liking for;
esp. to have tickets on oneself and
varr., to be vain, to be conceited.
Austral. slang.| 1908 W. H. Koebel Anchorage viii. 140, I don't know whether she's got any tickets on me. 1938 ‘R. Hyde’ Nor Years Condemn ix. 179 You must have tickets on her, Starkie. 1941 K. Tennant Battlers 20 ‘Arr,’ the busker said disgustedly, ‘you've got tickets all over yourself.’ 1951 Cusack & James Come in Spinner iv. 32 If people have got any tickets on themselves, Blue don't get nowhere with them. 1970 J. Hibberd Plays 227 You're the bastard that's always been smug and had tickets on himself. |
d. to write one's own ticket: to be able to stipulate one's own conditions, to be in an advantageous position.
colloq.| 1928 Wodehouse Money for Nothing v. 94 ‘But Oil's the stuff, and if you want to part with any of that Silver River of yours, Tom,’ he said, ‘pass it across this desk and write your own ticket.’ 1961 C. Cockburn View from West vii. 75 A prelate in the Archbishop's position can..write his own ticket as to what is in the mind of God. 1981 A. Price Soldier no More xvii. 246 He could make his own terms, and write his own ticket. |
e. A (counterfeit) pass or passport.
slang.| 1969 R. Airth Snatch! ii. 23 A small but select stock of tickets—Ziggy sold only the best, no London-issued Lithuanians for him. 1973 G. M. Fraser Flashman at Charge 164 Russia—where everyone has to show his damned ticket every few miles. |
f. A piece of paper impregnated with lysergic acid diethylamide (see
quot. 1969).
slang (chiefly
Austral.).
| 1969 Pix 19 Apr. 11/1 It [sc. LSD] is sold usually in absorbent paper in a portion of 120 micrograms known as a ticket. When you take a ticket you are on a trip. |
6. a. A pay-warrant;
esp. a discharge warrant in which the amount of pay due to a soldier or sailor is certified. Also, any certificate of discharge from service, prison, etc.;
freq. in
phr. to work one's ticket, to obtain (by scheming) one's discharge.
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 657/2 There should be a pay-master appoynted, of speciall trust, which should paye everye man according to his captaynes tickett, and the accompte of the clarke of his bande. 1665 Pepys Diary 5 Dec., Mr. Stevens, who is..paying of seamen of their tickets at Deptford. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xl, Gascoigne, having received his discharge-ticket, went on board of the Rebiera. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 299 The sailors were paid with so little punctuality that they were glad to find some usurer who would purchase their tickets at forty per cent discount. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Ticket, Seaman's, a register ticket given to seamen from the General Register and Record office of Seamen. 1869 Temple Bar XXV. 217 ‘Coiners’..as a rule returned to their profession as soon as they got their ‘ticket’. Prison is..a great punishment to such men. 1899 H. Wyndham Queen's Service xxxiii. 231 It is a comparatively easy matter for a discontented man to ‘work his ticket’. 1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke iv. 77 He..attempted to work his ticket to one of these new-style open prisons. 1970 W. Smith Gold Mine xxiv. 56 My boss boy has worked his ticket... Can you see that I get a good man to replace him? |
b. Short for
ticket of leave.
| 1843 in Occasional Papers Univ. Sydney Lang. Res. Centre (1981) No. 19. 61, I have this day given the prisoner named in the margin a pass to proceed to Bathurst as he wished to have his Ticket issued for that District. 1904 A. Griffiths 50 Years Public Service xii. 169 Blue dress men of exemplary conduct, who were within a year of release on ticket. Ibid. xxiii. 354 Then he is on ticket now, and wanted for failing to report himself, no doubt. |
† 7. a. An acknowledgement of indebtedness, an I O U; a promise to pay; a note or memorandum of money or goods received on credit; a debit account, a score; hence
phr. on, upon (the) ticket, on credit, on trust.
Cf. on tick (
tick n.4 1).
Prob. the ‘ticket’ was
orig. the ‘note of hand’ of the borrower, but it might easily be transferred to the statement of the same rendered by the creditor, and thus to ‘a tradesman's bill’, as suggested by Nares.
| c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. i. i, Your poor Vitler, Sir, where your Lordships men went o' th' ticket. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 25 The Admirall lost some monies..and then playing on ticket, lost twenty thousand crownes. a 1634 Randolph Hey for Honesty ii. vi, I am resolved to build no more Sconces, but to pay my old tickets. 1643 Davenant Unfort. Lovers v. i, Let 'em not deal on the Ticket. You know ready Mony makes the Pot boil. 1656 Heylin Surv. France 147 He that hath..his gold ready shall have a sooner dispatch, then the best Scholar upon ticket. |
b. = pawn-ticket s.v. pawn n.2 4.
| 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz (1836) 1st Ser. II. 152 You leave your ticket here till you're sober, and send your wife for them two planes. 1863 E. Barlee in N. Longmate Hungry Mills (1978) viii. 112 [He] coomed straight home, made up the fire and burnt every blessed ticket. 1899 Kipling Stalky 45 Why, last month you and Beetle sold mine [sc. a watch]! 'Never got a sniff of any ticket. |
8. In politics (
orig. U.S.), The list of candidates for election nominated or put forward by a party or faction. Also, the subject or theme of an election campaign; the principles of a political party as presented for an election.
general ticket, a list of candidates put forward for a state or other large political division, equal in number to the entire representation to which the division is entitled, but not chosen to represent each local subdivision.
mixed ticket,
scratch ticket,
split ticket,
straight ticket: see
quot. 1859.
| 1711 I. Norris in Penn-Logan Corr. (1872) II. 438 Chester [Pennsylvania] carried their ticket entire. 1764 (Nov. 3) in Life etc. J. Reed (1847) I. 36 The Dutch Calvinists and the Presbyterians..to a man assisted the new ticket. 1766 Sarah Franklin Lett. to B. Franklin (1859) 191 The old ticket forever! We have it by 34 votes! 1789 Maryland Jrnl. 2 Jan. (Thornton Amer. Gloss.), The Federal Ticket recommends Mr. Daniel Carroll for the Sixth District; and the opposite Ticket..Mr. Abraham Faw. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., According to circumstances a man is said to vote the straight ticket, i.e. the ticket containing the ‘regular nomination’ of his party without change; a scratch ticket, a ticket from which the names of one or more of the candidates are erased; a split ticket, a ticket representing different divisions of his party; or a mixed ticket, a ticket in which the nominations of different parties are blended into one. 1861 Blair in Century Mag. (1889) Sept. 687/2 Chase, who never voted a Democratic ticket in his life. 1863 Clare Jrnl. 18 May 2/4 We venture to tell Mr Vereker and Captain Knox that they need not..attempt to go into Parliament on the Conservative ‘ticket’. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. v. 54 Each party runs its list or ‘ticket’ of thirty presidential electors for that State. 1899 G. B. Shaw Let. 30 Dec. (1972) II. 127 Suppose we do run a ticket, how is it to be done? The [Fabian] Society would not vote a ticket except as between two rival tails to the Exec. 1927 A. Huxley Let. 24 Mar. (1969) 286 How are you going to make a strong working government from a body of people elected on a great variety of different tickets? 1962 Listener 22 Mar. 505/2 Lloyd George had actually fought the election of 1929 on the ticket ‘We can conquer unemployment’. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 3/8 Mr. Woodcock..is running on a youth ticket. 1974 Argus (Cape Town) 2 Aug. 8/7 In 1966, the then Mayor..had to contest an election... He won by topping the poll on a ticket of two. 1977 Grimsby Even. Tel. 14 May 7/4, I did not ask Mr. Muggeridge for permission to put his name on the ‘ticket’. 1979 H. Kissinger White House Years ii. 24 Dwight Eisenhower had been elected on the Republican ticket, but he owed little to the Republican Party. |
9. slang. a. The correct thing; what is wanted, expected, or fashionable;
esp. in
phr. that's the ticket.
Perh. from 8; or, as some have suggested, from the winning ticket in a lottery.
| 1838 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. ii. xxi. 323 They ought to be hanged, sir, (that's the ticket, and he'd whop the leader). 1843 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 117, I fancy that moderately high hills (like these) are the ticket. 1847 Ibid. 179 This [idealizing of portraits] is all wrong. Truth is the ticket. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes vii, Somehow she's not—she's not the ticket. 1866 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 411 That's the ticket! That's the winning game. |
b. The program or plan of action; that which is to be done; the thing on hand.
| 1842 Marryat Perc. Keene xiii, ‘Well’, said Bob Cross, ‘what's the ticket, youngster—are you to go abroad with me?’ 1861 C. J. Andersson Okavango x. 127 [The lion] suddenly squatted, evidently intending to spring upon me. ‘Nay, old fellow’, I muttered to myself, ‘if that's the ticket, I will be even with you’. |
10. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
ticket-box,
ticket-pocket,
ticket-punch,
ticket stub,
ticket-system,
ticket-tax;
b. ‘having to do with the selling, etc. of tickets’, as
ticket agency,
ticket-agent,
ticket booth,
ticket-clerk,
ticket counter,
ticket-guard,
ticket hall,
ticket machine,
ticket-man,
ticket-money,
ticket-office,
ticket-official,
ticket-room,
ticket wagon,
ticket wicket,
ticket window;
c. ‘to which admission is obtained by ticket’, as
ticket-gathering,
ticket-meeting;
d. obj. and objective genitive, as
ticket-buyer,
ticket-clipper,
ticket-collector,
ticket-dispenser,
ticket-examiner,
ticket-holder,
ticket punch,
ticket-receiver,
ticket-seller,
ticket-snipper,
ticket-writer;
ticket-clipping,
ticket-collecting,
ticket-issuing,
ticket-punching,
ticket-snatching,
ticket-writing.
| 1923 Variety 1 Nov. 14/3 The ticket agencies took the attraction on the basis of an eight week buy. 1975 R. Hoban Turtle Diary li. 206 A lady from the ticket agency where Miss Neap had worked. |
| 1861 Richmond (Va.) Examiner 6 Dec. 3/3 Mr. John M. Parker, for several years the efficient General Freight and Ticket Agent of the Richmond and Petersburg railroad. 1976 Scott & Koski Walk-In (1977) i. iii. 20 The ticket agent was..the wrong side of middle age. |
| 1926 E. Hemingway Sun also Rises ii. xvii. 196 The ticket-booths out in the square. 1981 P. Fox Satan's Messenger ii. xiv. 108 A ticket booth where he paid 20p to proceed. |
| 1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 628 The walls of the booking office are provided with ticket-boxes or tubes. |
| 1884 Law Times 23 Aug. 301/1 He presented a ticket at the barrier..saying to the ticket-clipper, ‘I want the train for Canonbury’. |
| 1889 Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) I. xx. 397 The crush of a ticket-collecting. 1897 Daily News 6 July 7/3 The minutes consumed in the stoppage for ticket-collecting. |
| 1850 F. B. Head in E. R. Pike Human Doc. Victorian Golden Age 97 The ticket collector at Camden station. 1977 R. Barnard Blood Brotherhood ii. 18 The Bishop..bestowed his ticket on the ticket-collector. |
| 1862 Railway Traveller's Handy Bk. 68 An elderly lady presents herself at the ticket counter. 1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship xv. 293 Will..leaning on the ticket counter below the boarded window. 1977 G. Scott Hot Pursuit iii. 34 When I got to the airport I..walked over to the ticket counter for my airline. |
| 1976 P. Cave High Flying Birds ii. 17 He turned the handle on his little ticket dispenser and delivered my receipt. |
| 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger v. 48 He dived under the seat as they drew in at a station. The ranks drew together and out-stared the ticket-examiner. 1971 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. 1/4 Mr. Manaka reported this to the ticket examiner. |
| 1969 Listener 6 Mar. 295/3 The miners set about the job of unearthing a new ticket hall, designed to become the busiest in London. 1978 H. R. F. Keating Long Walk to Wimbledon x. 165 She made her way..to the station entrance... There were yet more people inside the old ticket hall. |
| 1859 J. Robert-Houdin Memoirs I. viii. 154 Suppose the ticket-holder declined, he was not admitted, and when matters came to that pass, people always paid. 1979 D. Hurd End to Promises i. 15 To avert violence these rallies were to be for ticket-holders only. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 2/3 In full view of that stern and uncompromising ticket-inspector. |
| 1952 Evening News (Port of Spain, Trinidad) 11 Jan. 2/1 Recently ‘Tim’, a ticket-issuing machine, was introduced to save time and money. 1964 A. Wykes Gambling x. 237 Mechanical ticket-issuing machines. |
| 1963 Times 24 May (Suppl.) p. vii/4 Another relic of postwar contempt for the passenger is the refusal to install at Underground stations that have automatic ticket machines a single machine that will enable the passenger without small change to obtain it so that he can operate the ticket machine. 1979 Listener 18 Oct. 520/1 Ten-pence pieces have to be hoarded for..the ticket machine at St James's Park tube station. |
| 1889 Spectator 9 Nov. 634/1 A quasi-public or ticket meeting. |
| 1827 L. T. Rede Road to Stage 56, I remember Miss S―, at Drury, from neglecting this precaution, having to pay one hundred and ninety-eight pounds, out of her ticket money alone, to her co-partner in the benefit. 1902 ‘Mark Twain’ in Harper's Weekly 6 Dec. 4/2 The man could not get back the ticket-money. |
| 1890 Daily News 22 Sept. 2/6 Wire-plyers and pincers, ticket-nippers, wrenches, spanners, &c. |
| 1667 Pepys Diary 4 Jan. (1974) VIII. 4 My lord Brouncker went away after dinner to the Ticket Office. 1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West I. 221 A noisy crowd was gathering around the ticket-office. 1980 J. O'Faolain No Country for Young Men iii. 56 ‘No point travelling First’, the man at the Euston ticket office had advised. |
| 1897 Pall Mall Mag. July 384 He put the coin carefully in the ticket-pocket of his overcoat. 1934 L. A. G. Strong Corporal Tune 80 He..then felt in the ticket pocket. 1978 F. Maclean Take Nine Spies vii. 266 Kim Philby..was..carrying a Soviet Secret Service Cipher in the ticket pocket of his trousers. |
| 1866 Outing 7 Feb. 588/1 Conductor..H. is unlocking his little corner cupboard and taking therefrom his punch (I mean ticket-punch, of course). 1978 E. Malpass Wind brings up Rain iv. 39 The girl sat down, fiddling with her ticket punch. |
| 1893 Gunter Miss Dividends 30 The ticket puncher looks astonished for a moment, and then..cries, ‘Next!’ |
| 1895 Westm. Gaz. 10 Oct. 3/1 After the exhausting and exciting struggle in the ticket-room comes the preparation for the settling or pay day. |
| 1844 J. Cowell Thirty Years passed among Players iv. 65 John Blake I appointed secretary of the treasury and principal ticket-seller. 1929 ‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Mystery i. iii. 46 You'll be looking for ticket-stubs... Anything resembling half a ticket. 1979 ‘M. Hebden’ Death set to Music v. 50 ‘But I was in Paris!’ ‘We have only your word and two ticket stubs to confirm that.’ |
| 1824 T. Chalmers in Mem. (1851) III. iii. 37 The ticket system operates admirably. 1848–9 J. C. Calhoun Const. U.S. Wks. 1863 I. 370 The general ticket system; which has become..the universal mode of appointing electors to choose the President and Vice-President. |
| 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. vi, Toll-men and ticket-takers. |
| 1895 McClure's Mag. June 55/1 The band-wagons and the chariots, the calliope, the chimes, the oil-tank, the sprinklers, the ticket-wagon..have arrived. 1946 E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh i. 60 Thinking of the old ticket wagon brings those days back. |
| 1892 Kipling & Balestier Naulahka v. 49 Tarvin..stepped out through the ticket wicket into Rajputana. 1964 M. Laurence Stone Angel v. 124 The ticket wicket's straight ahead. You can't miss it. |
| 1865 Harper's Mag. May 816/1 [He] asked me to await his return while he crowded to the ticket-window and procured tickets for both. 1979 P. Theroux Old Patagonian Express xiii. 201 Ticket windows were only opened a few hours before the train was to go. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Ticket-writer, one who writes or paints showy placards and legible tickets for goods in shop windows. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 471 Export bottlers, fellmongers, ticket⁓writers, heraldic seal engravers. 1962 E. Godfrey Retail Selling & Organization vii. 57 A ticket-writing department, where price tickets for displays and sales placards are written or printed. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 8 Apr. d1/1 Tucson travel agents and the University of Arizona are at loggerheads over the proposed creation of a taxpayer-financed ticket-writing service that would handle at least some of the $2 million the school expects to spend on air travel this year. |
11. Special
Combs.:
ticket barrier, the point at a railway station beyond which one cannot proceed without a ticket;
ticket benefit, an entertainment for which special tickets are sold, the proceeds being for the benefit of a particular person or object;
ticket broker (
U.S.), a dealer in unexpired or return railway tickets:
= ticket-scalper;
ticket chopper (
U.S.), (
a) a machine which mutilates used railway tickets deposited in it by passengers; also, a similar device used in cinemas; (
b) the employee in charge of this machine;
ticket-day: see
quot. 1858;
ticket fine, a fine imposed on a motorist for violation of traffic regulations by the issuing of a ticket (sense 2 b) rather than by prosecution in court;
ticket-holder, (
a) one who holds a ticket of admission, etc.; (
b) a clip or other device for holding or attaching a ticket or label;
† ticket-jobber, a jobber of lottery-tickets;
ticket-man, (
a) a ticket-holder;
spec. a seaman who held a certificate exempting him from impressment (now
Hist.); (
b) a railway employee who collects or punches tickets;
† ticket-monger, one who trafficked in the pay-warrants of seamen, giving ready money with a large deduction, and then presenting them for payment;
ticket-night, a benefit performance: see
quot. 1812;
ticket-scalper (
U.S. slang),
= scalper2 2 a, c; so
ticket-scalping;
ticket-shop, a shop displaying ticketed goods in the window;
ticket-splitting vbl. n. and ppl. a. U.S., the practice of voting for candidates of different political parties in the same election; hence
ticket-splitter;
ticket tout, one who obtains tickets for sporting, theatrical, or other events and attempts to resell them at more than the published price. See also
ticket-porter.
| 1939 Auden in New Writing Spring 2 Crowds round the *ticket barrier. 1981 J. B. Hilton Surrender Value iii. 29 The man who stood beyond the ticket barrier, scanning the boat-train. |
| 1898 Daily News 30 July 2/4 The London Trades Council has arranged for a *ticket benefit..in aid of the Welsh Miners' Relief Fund. |
| 1902 Farmer & Henley Slang Dict. s.v. Scalp, Ticket-scalper, a *ticket-broker. |
| 1898 C. B. Davis Borderland of Society 90 She took up with *ticket-chopper on the elevated road. 1905 Daily Chron. 8 Mar. 5/4 One hundred students from Columbia University..volunteered their services to the company as guards and ticket-choppers. 1915 J. B. Rathbun Motion Picture Making 119 To prevent the tickets from being used a second time a ‘ticket chopper’ may be used that mutilates the ticket in such a way that it is impossible to present it without detection. 1932 Ticket-chopper [see movie house]. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Ticket-day, the day before the settling or pay-day on the Stock Exchange, when the names of bona-fide purchasers are rendered in by one stockbroker to another. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 11/1 The business of ticket-days..is entirely clerical, consisting chiefly..of the passing of buyers' names to sellers of stock or shares. |
| 1959 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 1 (heading) *Ticket-fine system for drivers opposed. 1979 T. Skyrme Changing Image of Magistracy vii. 80 Further relief came in 1960 with the introduction of ‘ticket fines’ for illegal parking and some other minor offences. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Ticket-holder, a device to hold a railway ticket in the hat or to the lappel of the coat; or a tag to a bale or package. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 368/1 The Subscriptions being filled, whatever Reflections may be made, they can be of no Prejudice to the Lottery, but only affect the *Ticket-Jobbers. |
| 1803 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) V. 46 This ship is navigated to Portsmouth by *Ticket-men (men who are protected from the impress by some cause or other). 1893 Gunter Miss Dividends 37 Miss Travenion is conducted..past the ticket man at the gate, and on board the train. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 5 Feb. 10/1 Admission is by tickets, available for six nights, and..‘ticket men’ get the first chance of entrance. |
| 1668 Pepys Diary 5 Mar., To answer only one question, touching our paying tickets to *ticket-mongers. |
| 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. xv, Some forth on *ticket-nights from tradesmen break, To mar the actor they design to make. [Note.] Ticket-nights are those whereon the inferior actors club for a benefit: each distributes as many tickets of admission as he is able among his friends. |
| 1875 W. N. Bryant Railroad Guide 12 It would prevent the deception daily practiced upon this class by *ticket scalpers. 1889 Farmer Dict. Amer., Ticket scalper, a speculator in unused railway tickets. 1935 Time 26 Aug. 27/1 Comedian Joe Brown..is locked out of his dressing room by mistake on his opening night and is compelled to pay $20 to a ticket scalper to get into the theatre in time for his entrance cue. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 1 Nov. 2/1 (Farmer) *Ticket-scalping..has reference to the transferability or otherwise of tickets rather than to their date of expiry. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 380/2 A thoroughfare full of *ticket-shops. |
| 1972 De Vries & Tarrance Ticket-Splitter i. 22 We will examine the way the *ticket splitter makes up his mind about politics and government. 1980 Washington Star 10 Oct. a–6 The area also has been very strong for Republican Gov. William Milliken, a moderate who has been elected three times by ticket splitters. |
| 1957 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. LI. 308 (heading) Other motives and *ticket splitting. 1972 Times 13 Oct. 9/3 Mr Nixon..is obviously complacent at the prospect of ticket-splitting, under which Democrats are being invited to salve their consciences by voting for their local party candidates while giving their presidential vote to Mr Nixon. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 22 May 5/1 This is the damndest crossover, ticket-splitting state in the nation. |
| 1950 Sport 24–30 Mar. 20/4 A final word about the *ticket touts. 1982 Times 17 Mar. 11/2 Cats..is still giving the ticket touts an excellent living. |
▪ II. ticket, n.2 dial. (
ˈtɪkɪt)
[app. f. tick n.3 + -et1.] A minute quantity or part.
| 1634 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. V. 414 Seatoun threatned the notar, avowing to take a ticket aff his haffet if he gave out any instrument in this mater. 1731 Fielding Lottery iii, I have not got it as yet—but, upon my shoul, I was within a ticket of it. 1904 in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., (Somerset) A donkey load would be called ‘just a little ticket’. |
▪ III. ticket, v. (
ˈtɪkɪt)
[f. ticket n.1] 1. a. trans. To attach a ticket to; to mark with a ticket indicating the value, contents, description, origin, destination, or the like; to distinguish by means of a ticket; to label. Chiefly in
pa. pple.| 1611 [see ticketed below]. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2624/4 There being one of the said Bags missing, Ticketed 68l. 3s. 6d. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 107 Plant these Trees in Baskets, well ticketted, or..set down carefully in our Book. 1770 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 135/2 The post-boy..was robbed..of the mail..containing two bags, ticketed Newcastle, and Newcastle and York. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 128 Pictures which are sold during the exhibition will be ticketed as such. 1839 Darwin Voy. Nat. xvii. (1852) 395 Of those [specimens] which were ticketed with their locality, not one was common to any two of the Islands. |
b. fig. To describe or mark as by a ticket; to designate, characterize, set down (
as so and so):
= label v. b.
| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 435, I make no doubt but confident forwardnesse, and undertakings, would Ticket men passable..that could scarce tell which end of their Bibles to hold uppermost. 1713 Bentley Rem. Disc. Free-think. §40. ii. 16 A few glittering Prizes..among an infinity of Blanks, drew troops of Adventurers; who, if the whole Fund had been equally ticketed, would never have come in. 1856 T. A. Trollope Girlh. Cath. de Medici i. 10 We find certain characters ticketed from age to age in history as monsters of atrocity. 1884 Chr. Commw. 14 Feb. 424/2 There is a present fashion of ticketing all outspoken religion as sham talk. |
2. To furnish with a ticket; to issue a railway or other travelling ticket to; to ‘book’; also
absol., to issue tickets.
U.S.| 1842 Longfellow in Life (1891) I. 415 To borrow the expression of a fellow-traveller, we were ‘ticketed through to the depot’. 1852 Boston (Mass.) Traveller 24 Dec. 3/2 Passengers ticketed through from New York to Cincinnati. 1882 Kansas City Jrnl. 19 Feb. Advt., We ticket directly to every place of importance. |
3. intr. To make a tender
for tin or copper ore by means of a ‘ticket’ or written tender: see
ticket n.1 1 b,
ticketing vbl. n. 2.
local.
| 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 287 Three hundred tons of Ore belonging to the same Mine were to be ticketed for on a day appointed. |
4. trans. To attach a parking ticket, etc. to (a vehicle); to serve with a ticket for a traffic or other offence.
U.S.| 1955 V. Nabokov Lolita (1959) i. xxiii. 97, I should explain that the prompt appearance of the patrolmen..was due to their having been ticketing the illegally parked cars in a cross lane two blocks down the grade. 1966 Cavalier Daily (Charlottesville, Va.) 8 Feb. 2/1 If you don't park next to the curb, you're still liable to be ticketed. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 1-b/3 Two dog owners who were ticketed by animal wardens because their animals were allegedly involved in a wading pool melee are planning to fight back. 1979 R. Ballantine Richard's Bicycle Bk. (rev. ed.) i. vii. 122 Cyclists have been ticketed for causing an obstruction by riding too far to the right. |
Hence
ˈticketed ppl. a., marked with or bearing a ticket or tickets.
| 1611 Cotgr., Tiqueté, ticketted, or appointed by ticket. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate vi, A hackney coach..that obscure vehicle, which was not permitted to degrade with its ticketed presence the dignity of Baliol's Lodging. 1828 Dobie Mem. W. Wilson of Crummock (1896) 100 On the ball night she was my ticketed companion. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, Hor. Sparkins, A dirty-looking ticketed linen-draper's shop, with goods of all kinds, and labels of all sorts and sizes, in the window. |