Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for blue-pencil

blue-pencil

[ bloo-pen-suhl ]

verb (used with object)

, blue-pen·ciled, blue-pen·cil·ing or (especially British) blue-pen·cilled, blue-pen·cil·ling.
  1. to alter, abridge, or cancel with or as with a pencil that has blue lead, as in editing a manuscript.


blue pencil

noun

  1. deletion, alteration, or censorship of the contents of a book or other work
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


verb

  1. tr to alter or delete parts of (a book, film, etc), esp to censor
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue-pencil1

First recorded in 1885–90
Discover More

Example Sentences

Then my secretary types up my material, prints it out, and then I revise using a 0.7 mm blue pencil.

The prince took up the pamphlet which he had been busy underlining with red and blue pencil.

Sunday newspaper specials came home with "return" written in blue pencil across the neatly typed page.

He selected the eggs with great care, marking some very choice ones with a blue pencil.

You have not written a single letter since you came here—only a post-card, and that you wrote with a blue pencil.

"Dig up some sand, pard, and fling it into the cinder-sifter while I write out the caution in blue pencil," said Stanley.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement