walking papers

walking papers

A notice of dismissal from one's employment or an order to leave or move on from a place. After messing up that account, I'm terrified that I'm going to get my walking papers any day now. The boss gave Daniel his walking papers for arriving to work late yet again.
See also: paper, walking
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*one's walking papers

Fig. a notice that one is fired from one's job. (*Typically: get ~; have ~; give one ~.) Well, I'm through. I got my walking papers today. They are closing down my department. I guess I'll get my walking papers soon.
See also: paper, walking
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

walking papers

A dismissal, as in They're downsizing, and I got my walking papers last week. This slangy expression, first recorded in 1835, refers to a written notice of dismissal.
See also: paper, walking
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

walking papers

n. a notice of being fired, released, divorced, etc. I hope I don’t get my walking papers today. I need this job.
See also: paper, walking
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • away from it all
  • be out of (one's) head
  • be at a disadvantage
  • at a disadvantage
  • address comments or remarks to
  • address (one's) comments to (someone or something)
  • address (one's) remarks to (someone or something)
  • be in it for
  • be more than (something)
  • be more than glad, ready, etc.
References in periodicals archive
"Anytime someone felt the need to move on to a different era in life," says Booker, "they would say they had gotten their 'walking papers'.
It also seems unlikely that the tens of thousands of employees slated to get their walking papers in the next year -- from Bear Stearns, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, et al -- are going to give up finance and start waiting tables.
visit from unwanted guests on August 8, and so he gave them their walking papers.
Paulson's critics should take solace in the precedent of Paul O'Neill, a former administration Treasury secretary who publicly disagreed with Bush on global warming and came away with nothing but his walking papers.
If the rancor builds to a crescendo and Pischetsrieder is handed his walking papers, it may be in the best interest of everyone in Detroit to burn up the phone lines to Wolfsburg and urge Bernhard to return to the U.S., where he'd worked for five years.
Among the public, 35% of respondents approved of his job performance, and 52% said Bush should give Rumsfeld his walking papers.
Among those given walking papers was center director Ambler Moss Jr., a former U.S.
"In one case, I was supported publicly, but given my walking papers privately." He also remembers vividly walking into a meeting on business ethics, only to find "that one of the guys I fired was one of the speakers."
When the company handed him his walking papers last year (at a time when BellSouth CEO Duane Ackerman raked in about $28 million in pay and stock options), Hill decided not to serve as anybody's financial footstool again.
Rajoub tells Reuters he has met Arafat after getting his walking papers and told him he was not demanding reinstatement but that it was "a big mistake to appoint this new chief for many reasons, which I presented to him".
The next day, one-third of LTV's corporate staff received walking papers, including the manager of employee communication.
After some pointed exchanges, Mona gives the indecisive Paul his walking papers, not altogether willingly.
The demise of seemingly solid e-companies such as Pets.com and eToys has investors and Wall Street running for cover--not to mention the thousands of employees who were handed their walking papers.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning editor whose work has long graced the editorial pages of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and other newspapers, Greenberg was given his walking papers shortly after the station asked him to provide a conservative counterpoint to liberal commentator John Brummett.
Nader pointed out that the protesters were in the long tradition of social activism that "dates back to the time Americans gave George III his walking papers, to the abolition of slavery, to the movement for women's right to vote, to the farmers', populist, and progressive movements, to the industrial and mining workers' efforts to form trade unions, to the civil rights movement, the environmental movement, and the workers' health movement."