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Synonyms

rubber check

American  

noun

  1. a check drawn on an account lacking the funds to pay it; a check that bounces.

rubber check Idioms  

  1. A check drawn on an account without the funds to pay it, as in He's been handing out rubber checks right and left, but the police have caught up with him. The rubber alludes to the fact that, like rubber, the check “bounces,” in this case back from the bank. [Slang; c. 1920]

Etymology

Origin of rubber check

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

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.