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• blue chip
  blue chip

  noun

  a blue-colored chip of high value.
• blue-chip
  blue-chip

  adjective

  of, relating to, or constituting a blue chip.

blue chip

¹ American  

noun

1. Chiefly Poker. a blue-colored chip of high value.

2. a common stock issued by a major company that has financial strength, stability against fluctuations, and a good record of dividend payments: regarded as a low-risk investment.

3. a secure and valuable item or property held in reserve.

   The airfield was a blue chip in the struggle for military supremacy.

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blue-chip ² American  

[bloo-chip] / ˈbluˌtʃɪp /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or constituting a blue chip.

2. having outstanding or exemplary qualities within a specified category; leading.

   a group of blue-chip scientists; blue-chip stock.

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blue chip British  

noun

1. a gambling chip with the highest value

2. finance

   1. a stock considered reliable with respect to both dividend income and capital value

   2. ( as modifier )

      a blue-chip company

3. (modifier) denoting something considered to be a valuable asset

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Etymology

Origin of blue chip¹

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Origin of blue-chip²

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blue chip blue-chip

Notice what this means for our hypothetical investor with a stock portfolio holding the DJIA’s blue chip stocks.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

The blue chip index closed above 50000 for the first time in three months and now stands fewer than 200 points from its all-time high.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

The list includes a number of blue chip names dividend investors are likely familiar with, such as Exxon Mobil, yielding 3.4%; Merck, 3.7%; and Target, 4.7%.

From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2025

Some of the leaders in the space including San Francisco-based startups such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as blue chip tech giants including Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and Meta.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2025

Once a man dropped dead in a poker game when he had staked his last blue chip and drawn a royal flush.

From Rim o' the World by Anton Otto Fischer

Tokenization also expands overseas access to U.S. stocks, allowing anyone in the world to hold whole or fractional shares of blue-chip equities in the same digital wallet as their crypto assets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

So far, investors have eagerly snapped up the chance to lend to the tech giants, but they have demanded returns that would have been unthinkable for such blue-chip companies not long ago.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Last month, Nike was ejected from the S&P 100 stock market index of the biggest blue-chip firms in the US.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Not because of his five-star, blue-chip status, leaving Warren High as the second-ranked prospect in the 2023 class and top-ranked recruit out of California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

“All in solid, safe blue-chip stocks and government bonds.”

From "Lawn Boy" by Gary Paulsen