rain check

noun

a ticket for future use given to spectators at an outdoor event, as a baseball game or concert, that has been postponed or interrupted by rain.

an offered or requested postponement of an invitation until a more convenient, usually unspecified time:

Since you can't join us for dinner, we'll give you a rain check.

a ticket, coupon, or the like, entitling a customer to purchase at a later date and for the same amount a sale item that is temporarily out of stock.

Also, raincheck.

Origin

1880-85

Examples from the web for rain check

Sometimes, you end up visiting the store several times before you can use your rain check.
Target also committed a violation by failing to post its rain check policy.
Thus, a residential weatherization product purchased during the exclusion period using a rain check is not taxable.
If you can't find an item on sale, go to the service desk and ask for a rain check.
Do not accept a rain check for food that is not in stock.
If a store is out of a sale item, ask for a rain check to buy the item when it's back in stock.
Golfers who start their round after inclement weather has begun will not be issued a rain check.
Eligible clothing or footwear purchased with a rain check will be taxed at the rate in effect when purchased.

British Dictionary definitions for rain check

rain check

noun

(US & Canadian) a ticket stub for a baseball or other game that allows readmission on a future date if the event is cancelled because of rain

the deferral of acceptance of an offer, esp a voucher issued to a customer wishing to purchase a sale item that is temporarily out of stock, enabling him or her to buy it at the special price when next the item is available

(informal) take a rain check, to accept the postponement of an offer

Slang definitions & phrases for rain check

rain check

noun phrase

A postponement or delay, with promise of renewal, of a sports event, dinner, party, date, receipt of a sale item at a store, etc

Related Terms

take a rain check

[1884+ Baseball; fr the ticket stub that permits one to see another baseball game if the game one has a ticket for is not played on account of rain]

Idioms and Phrases with rain check

rain check

A promise that an unaccepted offer will be renewed in the future, as in I can't come to dinner Tuesday but hope you'll give me a rain check. This term comes from baseball, where in the 1880s it became the practice to offer paying spectators a rain check entitling them to future admission for a game that was postponed or ended early owing to bad weather. By the early 1900s the term was transferred to tickets for other kinds of entertainment, and later to a coupon entitling a customer to buy, at a later date and at the same price, a sale item temporarily out of stock.