- ticket
- 1520s, "short note or document," from an aphetic form of M.Fr. etiquet "label, note," from O.Fr. estiquette "a little note" (late 14c.), especially one affixed to a gate or wall as a public notice, from estiquer "to affix, stick," from Frank. *stikkan, cognate with O.E. stician "to pierce" (see stick (v.)). Meaning "card or piece of paper that gives its holder a right or privilege" is first recorded 1673, probably developing from the sense of "certificate, license, permit." The political sense of "list of candidates put forward by a faction" has been used in Amer.Eng. since 1711. The verb is first recorded 1610s. Meaning "official notification of offense" is from 1930; parking ticket first attested 1947. Big ticket item is from 1970. Slang the ticket "just the thing, what is expected" is recorded from 1838, perhaps with notion of a winning lottery ticket.