Definition

1. Noun:
   • A coupon redeemable for a meal: A physical or digital ticket that can be exchanged for a meal, typically at a restaurant.
   • A source of income or livelihood: A person, skill, job, or asset that provides one's primary financial support or means of living.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Coupon):

  • The charity event included a meal ticket for a free dinner at the partner restaurant.
  • He lost his meal ticket, so he couldn't claim the lunch he had paid for.

• Noun (Source of income):

  • That steady government contract became the company's meal ticket for a decade.
  • He was seen as the family's meal ticket after his first successful business venture.

Advanced Usage

• "to be/lose one's meal ticket": To be or to cease to be the primary source of someone's financial support.
  • After the injury, the athlete feared he had lost his meal ticket.
• Used metaphorically to describe dependency on a single source for sustenance or success.

Variants and Related Words

• Meal voucher: A near-synonym for the coupon sense.
• Breadwinner: A person who earns money to support a family, related to the "source of income" sense.

Synonyms

• Coupon sense: Voucher, token, pass.
• Income sense: Livelihood, mainstay, cash cow, golden goose.

Related Phrases

• Meal-ticket (hyphenated adjective): Sometimes used attributively.
  • He had a meal-ticket mentality, always looking for the next easy source of support.

Related Idioms

• "His/her/their meal ticket": A common idiomatic usage directly employing the term to label the source of income.
  • She realized her popular blog had become her meal ticket.

Noun

1. coupon redeemable at a restaurant and entitling the holder to a meal
2. a source of income or livelihood