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Work off one’s ticket vs Work one’s ticket

work off one’s ticket—

1. earn one’s passage by services on board ship, etc.:

  • After an ancestor landed in Philly in 1679 as an indentured servant and worked off his ticket, he headed west … to present day Ohio.

2. pay off one’s fine for traffic violation by working:

  • When motorcycle cop pulls over leatherclad biker, he decides to allow him to “work off ” his ticket.

work one’s ticket—(sl.) get one’s early discharge, especially from the army (by feigning illness, etc.):

  • It is a comparatively easy matter for a discontented man to “work his ticket.”

Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase write one’s own ticket—(coll.) be able to stipulate one’s own conditions:

  • This is an actor that has reached unimagined heights in his craft and can write his own ticket.