See rain check on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "1877 US in baseball; metaphorical usage from 1896, more generally from 1930. From at least 1870, baseball teams would reissue tickets in case of postponement due to rain, which became known as rain checks.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "rain checks",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "rain check (plural rain checks)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Baseball",
"orig": "en:Baseball",
"parents": [
"Ball games",
"Sports",
"Human activity",
"Human behaviour",
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "raincheck"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"word": "take a rain check"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Summer Storms”, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, publishers […], published 1921, →OCLC, page 167:",
"text": "With trembling fingers he pulled out his watch. The hands pointed to five minutes to three. A blessed vision came to him of a moist and disappointed crowd receiving rain-checks up at the Polo Grounds.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1954, Chuck Willis (lyrics and music), “I Feel So Bad”:",
"text": "Feel so bad / Feel like a ball game on a rainy day / Yes, I got my rain check / Shake my head and walk away",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Peter Morris, Chicago Times, July 8, 1877, quoted in A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball, →ISBN, 15.1.3 Rain Checks, pages 411–412:",
"text": "The St. Louis club is the only nine in the league which gives its patrons the right to see a full game or no pay. In Chicago and other cities, after the first inning is interrupted by rain the spectators are supposed to have received their money’s worth. In St. Louis ‘rain checks’ are issued in such cases.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A reissue, at no extra charge, of a ticket for a baseball game or other outdoor event postponed or interrupted because of rain."
],
"id": "en-rain_check-en-noun-en:baseball",
"links": [
[
"baseball",
"baseball"
],
[
"reissue",
"reissue#Noun"
],
[
"postpone",
"postpone"
],
[
"interrupt",
"interrupt#Verb"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(originally US baseball) A reissue, at no extra charge, of a ticket for a baseball game or other outdoor event postponed or interrupted because of rain."
],
"senseid": [
"en:baseball"
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"word": "raincheck"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"word": "rain-check"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"word": "raincheque"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"word": "rain cheque"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
"word": "rain-cheque"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2010, Kristin Peoples, Don't Throw Those Coupons Away!, →ISBN, pages 17–18:",
"text": "This means that if you go to the store for a half priced $25 turkey, but the turkeys are out, you can get a rain check. With the rain check, when those turkeys arrive again in a week or so, you will get half price, even if the sale is over.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Kathy Spencer, Samantha Rose, How to Shop for Free, Da Capo Lifelong, →ISBN, page 52:",
"text": "So if you go to CVS to cash in on the Venus Razor BOGO deal and you discover that other shoppers have beat you to it and the shelves are empty, instead of pitching a fit, you can kindly ask a cashier or store manager to give you a rain check. That way, you can return at your leisure and still get the deal while others are back to paying full price.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"A (special) price guarantee for a sold-out item or temporarily unavailable service."
],
"id": "en-rain_check-en-noun-en:store_voucher",
"links": [
[
"expiration",
"expiration"
],
[
"promise",
"promise"
],
[
"voucher",
"voucher"
],
[
"merchant",
"merchant"
],
[
"customer",
"customer"
],
[
"price",
"price"
],
[
"guarantee",
"guarantee"
],
[
"sold-out",
"sold-out"
],
[
"temporarily",
"temporarily"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"A (special) price guarantee for a sold-out item or temporarily unavailable service."
],
"senseid": [
"en:store voucher"
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "24 7 44 25",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "24 7 48 21",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "26 6 52 16",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "24 3 49 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "22 10 46 22",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "29 11 42 19",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "22 11 44 23",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "22 9 47 22",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
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{
"_dis": "29 13 38 20",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "22 9 47 22",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "22 8 50 20",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1896 January, Caduceus of Kappa Sigma, volume 11, number 1, Philadelphia, page 305:",
"text": "[Regarding visiting the Indianapolis, Indiana, chapter of the fraternity Kappa Sigma] […] if in any respect the affair does not suit you—call at the box office and you’ll get your money back or get a rain check, just as you please.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"The promise to make good on any experience that the customer deems unsatisfactory."
],
"id": "en-rain_check-en-noun-I~0cUtyT",
"links": [
[
"expiration",
"expiration"
],
[
"promise",
"promise"
],
[
"voucher",
"voucher"
],
[
"merchant",
"merchant"
],
[
"customer",
"customer"
],
[
"make good on",
"make good on"
],
[
"unsatisfactory",
"unsatisfactory"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"(less commonly) The promise to make good on any experience that the customer deems unsatisfactory."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"uncommon"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "I can't go with you to the museum this Saturday, but can I take a rain check and go some other day?",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Vincent Vega (John Travolta):",
"text": "I'm on my way somewhere. I got a dinner engagement. Rain check?",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2024 August 6, Gena Kaufman, “33 Rainy-Day Date Ideas That Aren’t Another Movie”, in Glamour:",
"text": "When a sudden rainstorm interrupts your plans for a date, you have some choices: (a) brave the weather, (b) choose an equally fun indoor activity, (c) straight up refuse to leave the house and instead stay in together, or (d) be that person who asks for a last-minute raincheck (don’t be that person).",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"In social interactions, a deferred invitation, or deferred acceptance of an invitation."
],
"id": "en-rain_check-en-noun-uwET9I7i",
"links": [
[
"expiration",
"expiration"
],
[
"interaction",
"interaction"
],
[
"invitation",
"invitation"
],
[
"deferred",
"deferred#Adjective"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"(by extension) In social interactions, a deferred invitation, or deferred acceptance of an invitation."
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-rain check.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d4/En-au-rain_check.ogg/En-au-rain_check.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/En-au-rain_check.ogg"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "gǎitiān",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "改天"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "tegoedhoudertje"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "uitstel maar geen afstel"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "siirto"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Gutschein"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Gutschrift"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Verschieben auf später"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"alt": "おあずけ",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "o-azuke",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "お預け"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"alt": "えんき",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "enki",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "延期"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "utešítelʹnyj talón",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "утеши́тельный тало́н"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 32 32 32",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "cheque pluvial"
}
],
"word": "rain check"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Japanese translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations"
],
"derived": [
{
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "raincheck"
},
{
"word": "take a rain check"
}
],
"etymology_text": "1877 US in baseball; metaphorical usage from 1896, more generally from 1930. From at least 1870, baseball teams would reissue tickets in case of postponement due to rain, which became known as rain checks.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "rain checks",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "rain check (plural rain checks)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Baseball"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Summer Storms”, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, publishers […], published 1921, →OCLC, page 167:",
"text": "With trembling fingers he pulled out his watch. The hands pointed to five minutes to three. A blessed vision came to him of a moist and disappointed crowd receiving rain-checks up at the Polo Grounds.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1954, Chuck Willis (lyrics and music), “I Feel So Bad”:",
"text": "Feel so bad / Feel like a ball game on a rainy day / Yes, I got my rain check / Shake my head and walk away",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Peter Morris, Chicago Times, July 8, 1877, quoted in A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball, →ISBN, 15.1.3 Rain Checks, pages 411–412:",
"text": "The St. Louis club is the only nine in the league which gives its patrons the right to see a full game or no pay. In Chicago and other cities, after the first inning is interrupted by rain the spectators are supposed to have received their money’s worth. In St. Louis ‘rain checks’ are issued in such cases.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A reissue, at no extra charge, of a ticket for a baseball game or other outdoor event postponed or interrupted because of rain."
],
"links": [
[
"baseball",
"baseball"
],
[
"reissue",
"reissue#Noun"
],
[
"postpone",
"postpone"
],
[
"interrupt",
"interrupt#Verb"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(originally US baseball) A reissue, at no extra charge, of a ticket for a baseball game or other outdoor event postponed or interrupted because of rain."
],
"senseid": [
"en:baseball"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2010, Kristin Peoples, Don't Throw Those Coupons Away!, →ISBN, pages 17–18:",
"text": "This means that if you go to the store for a half priced $25 turkey, but the turkeys are out, you can get a rain check. With the rain check, when those turkeys arrive again in a week or so, you will get half price, even if the sale is over.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Kathy Spencer, Samantha Rose, How to Shop for Free, Da Capo Lifelong, →ISBN, page 52:",
"text": "So if you go to CVS to cash in on the Venus Razor BOGO deal and you discover that other shoppers have beat you to it and the shelves are empty, instead of pitching a fit, you can kindly ask a cashier or store manager to give you a rain check. That way, you can return at your leisure and still get the deal while others are back to paying full price.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"A (special) price guarantee for a sold-out item or temporarily unavailable service."
],
"links": [
[
"expiration",
"expiration"
],
[
"promise",
"promise"
],
[
"voucher",
"voucher"
],
[
"merchant",
"merchant"
],
[
"customer",
"customer"
],
[
"price",
"price"
],
[
"guarantee",
"guarantee"
],
[
"sold-out",
"sold-out"
],
[
"temporarily",
"temporarily"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"A (special) price guarantee for a sold-out item or temporarily unavailable service."
],
"senseid": [
"en:store voucher"
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1896 January, Caduceus of Kappa Sigma, volume 11, number 1, Philadelphia, page 305:",
"text": "[Regarding visiting the Indianapolis, Indiana, chapter of the fraternity Kappa Sigma] […] if in any respect the affair does not suit you—call at the box office and you’ll get your money back or get a rain check, just as you please.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"The promise to make good on any experience that the customer deems unsatisfactory."
],
"links": [
[
"expiration",
"expiration"
],
[
"promise",
"promise"
],
[
"voucher",
"voucher"
],
[
"merchant",
"merchant"
],
[
"customer",
"customer"
],
[
"make good on",
"make good on"
],
[
"unsatisfactory",
"unsatisfactory"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"A promise or voucher from a merchant to a customer:",
"(less commonly) The promise to make good on any experience that the customer deems unsatisfactory."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"uncommon"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "I can't go with you to the museum this Saturday, but can I take a rain check and go some other day?",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Vincent Vega (John Travolta):",
"text": "I'm on my way somewhere. I got a dinner engagement. Rain check?",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2024 August 6, Gena Kaufman, “33 Rainy-Day Date Ideas That Aren’t Another Movie”, in Glamour:",
"text": "When a sudden rainstorm interrupts your plans for a date, you have some choices: (a) brave the weather, (b) choose an equally fun indoor activity, (c) straight up refuse to leave the house and instead stay in together, or (d) be that person who asks for a last-minute raincheck (don’t be that person).",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"In social interactions, a deferred invitation, or deferred acceptance of an invitation."
],
"links": [
[
"expiration",
"expiration"
],
[
"interaction",
"interaction"
],
[
"invitation",
"invitation"
],
[
"deferred",
"deferred#Adjective"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) An agreement to honor a current offer after its normal expiration.",
"(by extension) In social interactions, a deferred invitation, or deferred acceptance of an invitation."
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-rain check.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d4/En-au-rain_check.ogg/En-au-rain_check.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/En-au-rain_check.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "raincheck"
},
{
"word": "rain-check"
},
{
"word": "raincheque"
},
{
"word": "rain cheque"
},
{
"word": "rain-cheque"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "gǎitiān",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "改天"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "tegoedhoudertje"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "uitstel maar geen afstel"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "siirto"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Gutschein"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Gutschrift"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Verschieben auf später"
},
{
"alt": "おあずけ",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "o-azuke",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "お預け"
},
{
"alt": "えんき",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "enki",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"word": "延期"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "utešítelʹnyj talón",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "утеши́тельный тало́н"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "an extension or postponement of an offer",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "cheque pluvial"
}
],
"word": "rain check"
}
Download raw JSONL data for rain check meaning in All languages combined (8.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (ee63ee9 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.