blank check

American  

noun

1. a bank check bearing a signature but no stated amount.

2. unrestricted authority; a free hand.

   He was given a blank check in the choice of personnel for the new department.

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blank check Idioms  

1. Unrestricted authority, a free hand, as in I'll support most of the chairman's agenda, but I'm not ready to give him a blank check for the company's future. Literally this term signifies a bank check that is signed by the drawer but does not indicate the amount of money, which is filled in by the person to whom it is given. [Late 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of blank check

First recorded in 1790–95, and in 1885–90 blank check for def. 2

Example Sentences

The quantum computing company went public on Friday through a merger with a publicly traded blank check company.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

I’d get a scrap of paper from my purse, the back of a receipt or a blank check to write on.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025

“A state of war is not a blank check for the President,” said Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2004.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2025

However bad you might imagine the vocal stylings of an amateur recording artist with a blank check and an inflated sense of her own talent could be, Lara is worse.

From Slate • Jan. 20, 2025

The clerk, apparently, was not of that opinion, for he produced a blank check, and when Dick made it out for eighty dollars more than the bill totaled, instantly paid over the difference in cash.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Related Words

• free rein