ticker

Etymology

It is formed from English tick + -er, from the verb meaning to make a ticking sound.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Etymonline dates that sense of the verb to 1721; the verb itself, at first "to touch, tap lightly", is recorded from the early 13th century and is perhaps ultimately imitative.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pendulum or escapement of a clock or watch, and in slang a watch: 1821, in the Sonnets for the Fancy printed in P. Egan's Boxiana.^[2][5][4] Green's Dictionary of Slang also has the sense "watch" from 1821.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used of the ticking part of a clock or watch and, in slang, of a watch itself, and Green's Dictionary of Slang follows it through British, American and Australian slang of the 19th century.^[8][2] Etymonline records it for the mechanism of a watch by 1828.^[4] In 1883 it was applied to the telegraphic instrument that printed stock prices or news on a paper strip,^[2][4] the source of ticker tape (1891); from 1957 Etymonline also records the ticker-tape parade, named after the strips thrown from windows to welcome a celebrity.^[4][3] The name also passed to the line of news or prices scrolled across a television or computer screen.^[9][10] The slang sense "heart" is recorded from 1930, first in American English,^[2][4] and in American and Australian slang it also came to mean courage or spirit.^[2][3] A ticker was also a person who ticks off items on a list, in particular a birdwatcher who collects sightings, from 1980.^[2][3] Rarer slang uses include a bottle of liquor in American underworld slang (1880) and an accountant, one who ticks off sums, in British slang (1981).^[8]

Timeline

• 1821 – the pendulum or escapement of a clock or watch; in slang, a watch.^[2][8]
• 1883 – a telegraphic instrument that prints stock prices or news on a tape.^[2][4]
• 1930 – slang, the heart; later also courage, spirit.^[2][4]
• 1980 – someone who ticks off items on a list, especially a birdwatcher.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A telegraphic instrument that receives stock prices or news and prints them on a paper tape; also an electronic device that displays such information.^{[5][11][7][10]}
2. A line of news, prices or other information that scrolls across the top or bottom of a television or computer screen.^[9][10]
3. (slang) The heart: The doctor said his old ticker was still in good shape.^{[11][5][10][12]}
4. (slang) A watch.^{[11][5][10][8]}
5. Anything that ticks.^[5][7][12]
6. In American and Australian slang, courage or spirit.^[2][3]
7. Someone who ticks off items on a list, especially a birdwatcher; a twitcher.^[2][3]

Related words

• tick
• ticket
• ticker tape
• tick-tock

Usage notes

The OED has two other, older nouns spelled ticker: a horse that bites its crib, from a separate verb tick, recorded from 1721 to 1796,^[2] and, with a query, a person who buys goods on tick (on credit) and never pays, recorded in 1753.^[2][4] In Scots, ticker was a dot or a small pimple, and in southern counties a single sheaf of oats or barley.^[13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)