blue chip

noun
1.
Chiefly Poker. a blue-colored chip of high value.
2.
a common stock issued by a major company that has financial strength, stability against fluctuations, and a good record of dividend payments: regarded as a low-risk investment.
3.
a secure and valuable item or property held in reserve:
The airfield was a blue chip in the struggle for military supremacy.
Origin
1900-05, Americanism

blue-chip

[bloo-chip] /ˈbluˌtʃɪp/
adjective
1.
of, pertaining to, or constituting a blue chip.
2.
having outstanding or exemplary qualities within a specified category; leading:
a group of blue-chip scientists; blue-chip stock.
Origin
1930-35
British Dictionary definitions for blue-chip

blue chip

noun
1.
a gambling chip with the highest value
2.
(finance)
  1. a stock considered reliable with respect to both dividend income and capital value
  2. (as modifier): a blue-chip company
3.
(modifier) denoting something considered to be a valuable asset
Word Origin and History for blue-chip

blue chip

adj.

also blue-chip, in reference to the high-value poker counter, from 1904 in the figurative sense of "valuable;" stock exchange sense, in reference to "shares considered a reliable investment," is first recorded 1929; especially of stocks that saw spectacular rises in value in the four years or so before the Wall Street crash of that year.

Slang definitions & phrases for blue-chip

blue-chip

adjective

Of the best sort; first-rate: a blue-chip stock/ a blue-chip school (1920s+)

[fr the color of the highest denomination of gambling chip]