sixty-four-dollar question

sixty-four-dollar question
/siks"tee fawr'dol"euhr, -fohr'-/
the critical or basic question or problem: Whether the measure will get through Congress this session or not is the sixty-four-dollar question.
Also, $64 question.
[from the fact that 64 dollars was the largest prize on a popular radio quiz show in the 1940s]

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • sixty-four-dollar question — noun Etymology: so called from the fact that $64 was the highest award in the CBS radio quiz show “Take Italian or Leave It” (1941 48) : a crucial question expressing the basic issue on a problematical subject * * * /siks tee fawr dol euhr, fohr… …   Useful english dictionary

  • sixty-four-dollar question — n. the most important question; the question that everyone wants to know the answer to. □ When? Now, that is the sixty four dollar question. □ Now for the sixty four dollar question. What’s the stock market going to do this year? …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • sixty-four dollar question — noun the crucial, decisive, or fundamental issue of a matter. Also, sixty four thousand dollar question. {named after the final prize in the US radio quiz game Take It or Leave It (1941–48), the variant being a later adaptation} …  

  • sixty-four thousand dollar question — noun informal something that is not known and on which a great deal depends. Origin 1940s: orig. sixty four dollar question, from a question posed for the top prize in a broadcast quiz show …   English new terms dictionary

  • sixty-four-thousand-dollar question — sixty four (thousand )dollar question noun 1. (from a US quiz game), the final and most difficult question one has to answer, from the sixty four (thousand )dollar top prize money awarded 2. Hence, a hard question to answer, the supreme or… …   Useful english dictionary

  • sixty-four-(thousand-)dollar question — noun ▪ (from a US quiz game), the final and most difficult question one has to answer, from the sixty four (thousand )dollar top prize money awarded ▪ Hence, a hard question to answer, the supreme or crucial question ● sixty …   Useful english dictionary

  • sixty-four-thousand-dollar-question — The sixty four thousand dollar question is the most important question that can be asked about something …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • sixty-four-thousand-dollar-question —    The sixty four thousand dollar question is the most important question that can be asked about something.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • sixty-four-thousand-dollar question — noun (singular) informal the most important question, which you do not know the answer to: But will they accept the offer? That s the sixty four thousand dollar question …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • Sixty-four-thousand-dollar-question —   The sixty four thousand dollar question is the most important question that can be asked about something …   Dictionary of English idioms

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