blue-pencil
[bloo-pen-suh l]
verb (used with object), blue-pen·ciled, blue-pen·cil·ing or (especially British) blue-pen·cilled, blue-pen·cil·ling.
to alter, abridge, or cancel with or as with a pencil that has blue lead, as in editing a manuscript.
Origin of blue-pencil
First recorded in 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for blue-pencil
tighten, cut, overhaul, reexamine, scrutinize, rewrite, amend, review, develop, modify, update, compare, revamp, reorganize, upgrade, reconsider, rework, alter, improve, blacklistExamples from the Web for blue-pencil
Historical Examples of blue-pencil
I never do, and Harmer has to blue-pencil my copy mercilessly.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908Lucy Maud Montgomery
When he begins to blue-pencil that pay-roll, some one is going to be hungry.
The Modern RailroadEdward Hungerford
Good and true writing no magazine or newspaper editor will blue-pencil.
The Last HarvestJohn Burroughs
He handed a map, with red-pencil and blue-pencil markings, along to von Schlichten.
Uller UprisingHenry Beam Piper, John D. Clark and John F. Carr
He used the editorial "blue-pencil" for alteration and condensation with the hand of a master.
The Great God SuccessJohn Graham (David Graham Phillips)