blank check

English

Alternative forms

Noun

blank check (plural blank checks) (US)

  1. (literal) A signed check of the type used to draw money from a bank account, containing no information as to the amount to be paid with it, so that any amount can be filled in.
  2. (figurative) A grant of complete authority to spend an unlimited amount of money, or to take other actions without restraint.
    Synonym: carte blanche
    • 1992, Leon T. Hadar, Quagmire: America in the Middle East, page 55:
      Nixon and Kissinger had established a blank check policy, giving the Shah a free hand to buy as many American weapons systems as he wanted, even the most technologically advanced, so long as they were not nuclear.

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