A permit once granted to convicts allowing them to leave prison under certain circumstances; used especially of convicts transported to the British colonies(noun)
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Use "ticket-of-leave" in a sentence
"It is being improved by convicts in dull red kimonos printed with Chinese characters, who correspond with our ticket-of-leave men, as they are working for wages in the employment of contractors and farmers, and are under no other restriction than that of always wearing the prison dress."
"The province of Victoria not only refused to admit them, but passed a law to prevent any ticket-of-leave men from other provinces from entering her territories."
"And really it happened very often that, for a month or so, some ticket-of-leave client, under the strict surveillance of the"