Word.ws English Dictionary

no tickee, no washee

no tickee, no washee phrase: something is not to be had without an exchange; there will be no deal without the required consideration or recompense.

Phrase

no tickee, no washee

  1. (Canada, US, slang) Something is not to be had without an exchange; there will be no deal without the required consideration or recompense.
    • Dr. Weiss said that what he had said was, "No grant, no research, no tickee, no washee."1974, New York (State). Office of Employee Relations, Grievance and Disciplinary Arbitrations (volume 2, page 118)
    • 'I don't need money. I need information.'
      'And if I don't proffer this information you'll take your business elsewhere?' Buzz nodded toward the tram car. 'No tickee, no washee. […]1999, James Ellroy, The Dudley Smith Trio, page 191

Origin of no tickee, no washee

A phrase stereotypically attributed to Chinese laundry workers in centuries past, who would only return a customer's washing when the ticket (receipt) was presented. See also -ee.

Questions about no tickee, no washee

What does no tickee, no washee mean?
No tickee, no washee means something is not to be had without an exchange; there will be no deal without the required consideration or recompense.
What part of speech is no tickee, no washee?
No tickee, no washee is a phrase.

Words near no tickee, no washee in the dictionary

  1. no through street
  2. no throughway
  3. no thru way
  4. no thru-way
  5. no thruway
  6. no tickee, no washee
  7. no time
  8. no time like the present
  9. no time to lose
  10. no trespassing
  11. no true Scotsman fallacies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: no tickee, no washee (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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