ticker
Americannoun
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tickers
plural
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
None of their seamers had the pace to test his ticker against the short ball.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Pershing Square USA, known by its ticker PSUS, gained only 0.6% on its investments since its debut in late April through Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
So there are two columns of tickers — the fund’s ticker and the U.S. ticker, which might be the same.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Sign up for WSJ’s Technology newsletter for a weekly digest of tech columns, big stories and personal tech advice, plus a news ticker and a touch of dark humor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Frank and Fred swept imaginary ticker tape off his head and shoulders.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Bare still reflexively recites stock tickers out loud when companies are mentioned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
In April, I mentioned research showing that some companies were boosting their share prices by adding “AI” to their corporate names or stock tickers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The message from those stock tickers is clear: Even A.I.-bullish investors are nervous about how the biggest companies in the space will fare without jacking up costs on all their products going forward.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
One way to begin this process is to click on the tickers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
These tickers are rented to these offices by the telegraph companies, and as fast as the sales are made the quotations are ticked off in thousands of offices in all parts of the United States.
From Up To Date Business Home Study Circle Library Series (Volume II.) by Seymour Eaton
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.
