bucket shop
Americannoun
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Stock Exchange. an unsound, unethical, or overly aggressive brokerage house.
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Slang. any shady commercial agency, as one dealing in illegally priced theater tickets.
noun
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an unregistered firm of stockbrokers that engages in speculation with clients' funds
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any small business that cannot be relied upon, esp one selling cheap airline tickets
Etymology
Origin of bucket shop
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; originally a cheap drinking establishment, allegedly so called because liquor was mixed or sold in buckets
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 bucket shop occupied a similar gray zone as the local bookie.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
The subsequent investigation under New York’s Martin Act brought down the Consolidated, and helped end the heyday of the bucket shop.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Critics are calling this the bucket shop act of 2012.
From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2012
Ryanair, the "no frills" bucket shop airline, has finally confirmed that passengers will now be charged to use the loo.
From The Guardian • Apr. 10, 2010
It made Rockefeller's little kerosene speculation look like a bucket shop.
From The Gentle Grafter by Greening, H. C.
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.
