blank check

noun

a bank check bearing a signature but no stated amount.

unrestricted authority; a free hand:

He was given a blank check in the choice of personnel for the new department.

Origin

1885-90

Examples from the web for blank check

We can no longer expect public support in the form of a blank check and an loosely defined agenda.
But this is not a blank check for the government to trample rights as it pleases.
Even if societies elect to keep public funding for some of those things, they'll never again be blank check propositions.
Instead, because they're a blank check, they get financed by general government revenues including income tax.
We can no longer conduct foreign policy on a blank check.
The blank check stock must be stored in a fireproof container, at a minimum, and safeguarded until needed.
Your tax dollars should not be used as a blank check.

Slang definitions & phrases for blank check

blank check

Related Terms

give someone a blank check

Idioms and Phrases with blank check

blank check

Unrestricted authority, a free hand, as in I'll support most of the chairman's agenda, but I'm not ready to give him a blank check for the company's future. Literally this term signifies a bank check that is signed by the drawer but does not indicate the amount of money, which is filled in by the person to whom it is given. [ Late 1800s ]