meal ticket

English

WOTD – 1 October 2010

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

meal ticket (plural meal tickets)

1. A ticket or voucher that can be exchanged for food.

   Volunteers are provided with a meal ticket for every four hours of service.

2. (idiomatic) Someone or something that provides income or livelihood, especially as an exploited source.

   I don't enjoy this job, but it is my meal ticket.

Synonyms

• bread ticket

Translations

a voucher for food

• Armenian: տալոն (hy) (talon)
• Esperanto:
• Finnish: ruokalipuke
• French: ticket-restaurant (fr), ticket-repas m, bon (fr), ticket (fr), coupon (fr)
• Italian: tagliando (it)
• Japanese: 食券 (ja) (shokken)
• Norwegian: matbong m
• Russian: ка́рточка (ru) f (kártočka), тало́н (ru) m (talón) на пита́ние (ru) (pitánije)
• Spanish: vale (es), cupón (es), harina de billetes

an exploited source of income or livelihood

• Finnish: leipä (fi)
• French: gagne-pain (fr) m, gogo (fr), pigeon (fr)
• Italian: gonzo (it), pollo (it)
• Korean: 밥줄 (bapjul)
• Russian: корми́лец (ru) m (kormílec)
• Spanish: primo (es)
• Turkish: ekmek parası (tr)

See also

• food stamps
• free lunch
• meal voucher
• pay the bills