blue-pencil

[bloo-pen-suhl]

verb (used with object)

blue-penciled, blue-penciling , blue-pencilled, blue-pencilling .

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

verb

1. (tr) to alter or delete parts of (a book, film, etc), esp to censor

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue-pencil¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

The first step in processing a set of data so obtained is to blue-pencil all entries that, judged by the accompanying remarks, relate to extraneous objects such as insects or bats.

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The secretary went into the adjoining room, to return presently with a file of newspapers, stitched neatly together, their columns marked here and there in blue-pencil.

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I never do, and Harmer has to blue-pencil my copy mercilessly.

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Good and true writing no magazine or newspaper editor will blue-pencil.

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And often I have had them blue-pencil wild statements I had made, which, on second thought, I wished withdrawn ... and during all the uproar I never had a reporter break his word, once given.

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Related Words

• alter 
• amend 
• compare 
• cut 
• develop 
• improve 
• modify 
• overhaul 
• reconsider 
• reexamine 
• reorganize 
• revamp 
• review 
• rework 
• rewrite 
• scrutinize 
• tighten 
• update 
• upgrade