big ticket meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

big-ticket

adjalso spelled big-ticket

Etymology Emerged in the United States in the 1930s; refers directly to the literal paper price tags or receipts ("tickets") attached to retail goods; larger, more expensive purchases (like appliances, cars, or furniture) required more prominent, high-value price tags; over time, the phrase transitioned from describing the physical tag to figuratively describing the expensive item itself.

Costly or expensive; having a high price.

Doing careful research before purchasing big-ticket items such as electronics, appliances, and automobiles can ensure that an investment lasts for many years.
Other big-ticket projects are the Northern Powerhouse Rail proposed infrastructure upgrade, for which a budget of £39bn over 20 years has been sought, [...].2020 December 2, Industry Insider, “The costs of cutting carbon”, in Rail, page 76:

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For [Grant] Robertson, that means investing significantly in the worn-out health system and pumping money into climate change solutions – big-ticket concerns he says he “owes to people”.2022 May 13, Eva Corlett, “As the shine comes off NZ Labour, Grant Robertson hopes his budget can steady the ship”, in The Guardian:

Of major importance or prominence.

Related terms: big-ticket item

big ticket

noun

Figuratively Something of major importance; the crux.

Some leave the field of play for a while to come back mostly for the big ticket moments.2013, Future Foundation, The Big Lie, page 22:
My own notes (of November 10, 2003) as chair of SSHWC reveal the “big ticket” of ideas that would guide our deliberations: striking the right tone of our argument (i.e., no militancy), constantly reaffirming that a big part of TCPS is a good document (often using footnote references to TCPS) and that it is not opposed to academic freedom, and reinforcing the idea of the joint responsibility of the research ethics board and researcher.2016, Martin Tolich, Qualitative Ethics in Practice:

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The real big ticket here is the second episode, which brings back Evil Morty (or Eye-Patch Morty, if you prefer), and blows up the Citadel of Ricks yet again, as the end result of a catastrophic plan that spans the deaths of thousands and exists solely for one little boy to maybe possibly theoretically escape the tyrannical rule of his genius grandfather.2021 September 6, Zack Handlen, “Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in AV Club:
Let's start by tackling the big-ticket self-care items that all girls need.2021, Lucie Hemmen, The Teen Girl's Anxiety Survival Guide:

Figuratively A high price; a large expense.

So we've got, like in my subcommittee, we've the space station, but overall in appropriations we have the space station, we have super collider, we have the mapping of the genetic code, and all three of these are really big, and then there is the superconductor, but all three are really big tickets, significant big tickets.1989, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on HUD-Independent Agencies, Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations for 1990, page 248:
However, we do want to assume that the big ticket is large enough relative to the bundle of resources committed to it so that positive saving on balance ( more saving beforehand than borrowing after ) will be required for feasibility .1992, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics Partha Dasgupta, Partha Dasgupta, Douglas Gale, Economic Analysis of Markets and Games:

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Paying for postsecondary education is a big ticket above and beyond life-cycle saving for retirement.2001, National Saving: Answers to Key Questions, page 24:
And it's good you're goin' for the big tickets. Harder to find people to sign for the big ones. More likely to be audited.2005, David Roland, Homeless in Vegas, page 160:
aunty vera had a double oven simpson fabulous next to thier wood stove. my mother thought it was the revolution of the decade. stove repairs was a big ticket.2021, Philip Kidd, Report Planet:

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see big, ticket.

I was driving and stopped at a red light, but unfortunately I had crossed the stop line by a faction of an inch (or, may be by a few inches), then the rookie traffic officer came to me with his big ticket pad. And wrote me a big ticket.2009, Ajay Ray, A Random Journey of Mind, page 86:

Related terms: big-ticket, big-ticket item