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• Annie Oakley
  Annie Oakley

  noun

  a free ticket, as to a theater; pass.
• Oakley, Annie
  Oakley, Annie

  A performer in Wild West shows around the turn of the twentieth century, famous for her marksmanship. In one of her acts, she would flip a playing card into the air and then perforate it with bullets before it hit the ground. The musical Annie Get Your Gun is loosely based on her experiences.

Annie Oakley

American  

[ohk-lee] / ˈoʊk li /

noun

1. a free ticket, as to a theater; pass.

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Oakley, Annie Cultural  

1. A performer in Wild West shows around the turn of the twentieth century, famous for her marksmanship. In one of her acts, she would flip a playing card into the air and then perforate it with bullets before it hit the ground. The musical Annie Get Your Gun is loosely based on her experiences.

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Etymology

Origin of Annie Oakley

Allegedly so called because such tickets, punched to prevent resale, resembled the playing cards used as targets by Annie Oakley

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Annie Oakley

When Americans conjure their pantheon of gun-culture heroes, they evoke industrialists like Samuel Colt, inventors like John Moses Browning, and gunslingers like Annie Oakley.

From Slate ● May 25, 2025

The very next year, Thomas Edison made a 90-second film of “Little Miss Sure Shot,” Annie Oakley, performing some of her marksmanship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2023

"We would often get visits from Terry when he was in the navy," said Terry's cousin Annie Oakley, who now lives in Australia.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2022

A stack of Adolf Hitler’s official stationery stopped him cold, but he was warmed by a photo of Annie Oakley, a fabled sharpshooter.

From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2019

Annie’s last name is Stokely, but I call her Annie Oakley.

From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman

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