ticker
Americannoun
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a telegraphic receiving instrument that automatically prints stock prices, market reports, etc., on a paper tape.
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a person or thing that ticks.
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Slang. a watch.
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Slang. the heart.
noun
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slang
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the heart
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a watch
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a person or thing that ticks
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stock exchange the US word for tape machine
Etymology
Origin of ticker
1820–30; 1880–85 ticker for def. 4; tick 1 + -er 1
Explanation
A device that transmits and displays stock prices is called a ticker. The narrow strip of paper on which this information was printed prior to the 1960s was called ticker tape. The financial districts of cities once had masses of used ticker tape—in old movies and newsreels, you can see ticker tape being tossed from windows as confetti during parades. Today stock tickers transmit information electronically. The name ticker comes from the sound the original machines made, similar to a ticking clock (something that, along with your beating heart, can be called a ticker colloquially).
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The frenzy intensified after the introduction of Thomas Edison’s Universal Stock Ticker.
From Barron's • Jan. 13, 2026
Ticker tape was still strewn across the field inside Istanbul’s Ataturk Olimpiyat Stadium and Manchester City fans weren’t done partying in the stands when Pep Guardiola issued an ominous warning to his rivals.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 7, 2023
James Ticker, from the ONS, said: "Popular culture continues to influence parents' baby name choices."
From BBC • Oct. 5, 2022
Once again, Radiohead set up a company – Ticker Tape Ltd, in December 2010 – to look after the self-releasing of their new album.
From The Guardian • May 2, 2016
The "Ticker" is in appearance like a piece of lead, a foot long and four inches thick.
From Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky No. 1: Practical Occultism—Occultism versus the Occult Arts—The Blessings of Publicity by Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
