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high roller

or high·roll·er

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noun Informal.
  1. a person who gambles for large stakes, as in a casino.
  2. a person who spends money freely for entertainment and extravagant living.
  3. a corporation or governmental agency that invests or spends freely or recklessly.
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Origin of high roller

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for high-roller

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Seems she was a teacher, but she certainly was a high-roller—O boy!

    Main Street

    Sinclair Lewis

  • I laid off, and Miles Diston took the high-roller out next trip.

British Dictionary definitions for high-roller

high roller

noun
  1. slang, mainly US and Canadian a person who spends money extravagantly or gambles recklessly
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Derived Formshigh rolling, noun, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for high-roller

n.

"extravagant spender," by 1873, American English, probably originally a reference to a gambler throwing dice.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper