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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TICKET, n., v. Also †ticquet, tickat; tickad (Cai. See P.L.D. § 158). Dim. form ticket(t)ie. Sc. forms and usages:

I. n. 1. A severe drubbing or chastisement, a smart blow or stroke (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Phrs. to gie or get a ticket, one's tickets, to deal or be dealt severely with physically or by stern reproof, to get or give (one) a hammering or drubbing (Fif. 1825 Jam.). Prob. orig. from the meaning of ticket as a legal notice, an order from a court, etc. Cf. a sim. development of Summons.Ags. 1833 J. S. Sands Poems 121:
I gae the creature sic a ticket, I gard him flee clean thro' the wicket.Bnff. 1880 J. F. Gordon Chrons. Keith 69:
Any caught rubbing a pen on the desk and not on the thumb might look out for a ticket.

†2. A bill, promissory note, a signed obligation.Sc. 1790 Nairne Peerage Evidence (1873) 99:
Bond heritable or moveable bills tickets accompts decreets of adjudication or other decreets.Sc. 1792 W. Ross Lectures Law Scot. I. 45:
The first moveable bond consisted of no more than a simple obligement for payment of a principal sum under a penalty. In England they went under the name of bills, and in Scotland of tickets. This technical term in the law is now out of practice.

†3. A small inscribed metal label or disc admitting the bearer to Communion in the Presbyterian Churches, a Token, q.v. (‡Ayr. 1933).Ags. 1705 A. B. Dalgetty Liff (1940) 15:
For making seven score of lead tickets.Ayr. 1872 Ayr Free Church Deacons' Court Minute Bk. MS. (19 June):
New Tickets for Communicants were given to the Elders.

4. (1) A person dressed in a slovenly, tawdry, dishevelled or incongruous manner, a ‘sight', a guy, a sartorial oddity (Abd. 1905 E.D.D.). Gen.Sc.Sc. 1907 N. Munro Daft Days xx.:
I cannot go to speak to anybody, for I'm such a ticket.Mry. 1941 I. Cameron Fascinating Hat xi.:
“I'm a regular ticket”, she thought, “I must change my dress.”Gsw. 1950 H. W. Pryde McFlannel Family Affairs 4:
A bonnie-like ticket Ah wid look.Abd. 1970 Huntly Express (27 March) 2:
Ye widna like tae see yer father gyan hame a ticket like fat I am.Ags. 1990s:
You look a proper ticket: You look a sight. Edb. 1991:
Ma wee brother is always dressed like a ticket. Abd. 1993:
He looks an aafu ticket. Dmb. 2004:
Ye're a right ticket in that auld coat.

(2) Contemptuous term for a person.Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 70:
ticket A person, as in a hard ticket (a tough guy) or a useless ticket (a shiftless person, good-for-nothing).Edb. 1994:
Timmy, c'mere ya ticket! Ah want tae hit ye.

5. “An old measure for coal; the Campbeltown ticket was about 300 lbs. weight” (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 67), prob. from the descriptive label on the sacks.

II. v. As in Eng.: to put a notice on; specif. in Glasgow: to affix by authority of the Town Council an official notice to the door of the house certifying its cubic capacity and the number of persons allowed to spend the night in it, as a means of checking overcrowding. Hence ticketed, of a house bearing such a certification. Obs.Gsw. 1923 G. Blake Mince Collop Close 117, 145:
The single-apartment house . . . was licensed by the Sanitary authorities, and ticketed accordingly, to accommodate 4½ adults.Gsw. 1932 A. J. Cronin Three Loves 316:
“Ticketed houses” these were, all bearing upon the door a ticket by right of which a night inspector of the Corporation might enter to ensure that no “overcrowding” should occur.Gsw. 1958 Stat. Acc.³ 464:
This Act [Glasgow Police Act of 1866] laid down minimum cubic capacities for one-, two- and three-apartment houses irrespective of the number of occupants and gave power to the Town Council to inspect and, if necessary, “ticket” houses which were of three apartments or less and of not more than 2,000 cubic feet in total content.