ticker
Americannoun
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a telegraphic receiving instrument that automatically prints stock prices, market reports, etc., on a paper tape.
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a person or thing that ticks.
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Slang. a watch.
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Slang. the heart.
noun
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slang
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the heart
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a watch
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a person or thing that ticks
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stock exchange the US word for tape machine
Etymology
Origin of ticker
1820–30; 1880–85 ticker for def. 4; tick 1 + -er 1
Explanation
A device that transmits and displays stock prices is called a ticker. The narrow strip of paper on which this information was printed prior to the 1960s was called ticker tape. The financial districts of cities once had masses of used ticker tape—in old movies and newsreels, you can see ticker tape being tossed from windows as confetti during parades. Today stock tickers transmit information electronically. The name ticker comes from the sound the original machines made, similar to a ticking clock (something that, along with your beating heart, can be called a ticker colloquially).
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 ticker tape had barely settled in Austria before Bulgaria's national broadcaster BNT confirmed Sofia as next year's host city.
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026
In a reply to Musk on X late last year, Matt Tuttle, the founder of Tuttle Capital, indicated he would be open to giving up the ticker symbol.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
SpaceX is expected to settle on a price for its shares next Thursday and open for trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker “SPCX” next Friday, June 12.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026
Innio, which will trade on the Nasdaq with the ticker symbol of INIO, sells equipment to data centers, helping to meet the insatiable demand for power that AI services require.
From Barron's • Jun. 2, 2026
The telephone and the big board and the ticker were all fakes, of course.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
