Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A ticket stub entitling the holder to admission to a future event if the scheduled event is canceled because of rain.
- noun An assurance to a customer that an item on sale that is sold out or out of stock may be purchased later at the sale price.
- noun A promise that an unaccepted offer will be renewed in the future.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic Any voucher or note from a
merchant to acustomer to provide an item the merchant has run out of at a later date for the item's current price, or (in a more literal sense) to provide a service at a later date. - noun idiomatic In social
interactions , a polite way to turn down aninvitation , with the implication one is simplypostponing it and that another time would beacceptable .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a promise that an unaccepted offer will be renewed in the future
- noun a ticket stub entitling the holder to admission to a future event if the scheduled event was cancelled due to rain
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
The expression may have originated in the era of open-air markets where the occurrence of significant rain usually required a vendor to pack up their goods and leave. The term may also be based on the issuing of tickets to claim property such as a coat or hat check. Before 1889, US baseball fans were issued a new ticket if rain was heavy enough to cause a game to be postponed. Abner Powell added a detachable stub called a rain check that year. This quickly became a standard practice for all major league teams.
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