traveler's check

noun

1. a check issued in any of various denominations by a bank, travel agency, etc., that is signed by the purchaser upon purchase and again, in the presence of the payee, when cashing the check or using it to pay for goods or services.

Word History and Origins

Origin of traveler's check¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Things like electricity conversion charts, embassy information, telephone dialing instructions, traveler’s check advice, international television channel breakdowns, menu translations, cultural etiquette tips, foldout maps and clothing size charts.

From Washington Post

Here we highlight five — climate change, deforestation, erosion, wildlife poaching and gentrification — and offer examples of places and experiences that may soon go the way of the traveler’s check.

From Washington Post

Later that day, according to the police, Vida walked into a McDonald’s at Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street and asked an employee behind the counter to cash a $50 traveler’s check.

From Salon

They would have cashed a traveler’s check without hesitation for a white man.

From Literature

If the woman in the Catholic Book Store had not cashed my traveler’s check, I might have been reduced to the same thing.

From Literature