a veto of a bill brought about by the president's failure to sign it within ten days of the adjournment of Congress.
a similar action on the part of any legislative executive.
the action of the President in retaining unsigned a bill passed by Congress within the last ten days of a session and thus causing it to die
any similar action by a state governor or other chief executive
An Americanism dating back to 1835–45
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He said the governor’s pocket veto came “out of nowhere.”
From Washington Times ● Jan. 5, 2021
Depending on when Congress sends the package to the White House, Trump could also choose to pocket veto the legislation, meaning the bill would die once the next session of Congress begins on January 3.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2020
The silence amounted to a pocket veto of the proposal.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2020
Moreover, in a letter in June 1833, he wrote to Senator Henry Clay over the withholding of a land act as a type of pocket veto.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2020
Keseberg says a bill setting aside a ward in the State Asylum for his two children, passed the Legislature, but received a pocket veto by the Governor.
From History of the Donner Party, a Tragedy of the Sierra by McGlashan, C. F. (Charles Fayette)
But Dulles & Co. preferred to pocket-veto the whole thing rather than fight out the nomination before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
From Time Magazine Archive
Congress passed his bill to have the United States retain and operate its power and nitrate plants at Muscle Shoals, Ala. President Coolidge killed the bill by pocket-veto.
From Time Magazine Archive
At issue: what Ted Kennedy called the President's "promiscuous use of the pocket-veto power."
From Time Magazine Archive
INDIANA: Governor McCray announced that he would pocket-veto a bill passed by the Assembly, providing a bonus of $10 for each month of service for veterans of the World War or the war with Spain.
From Time Magazine Archive
Lincoln pocket-vetoed this bill while Congress was out of session.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2017
Gov. Chris Christie pocket-vetoed the measure in January.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2016
But pocket-vetoed legislation must start all over again as a new bill, crawling through the tortuous process of committee hearings and debate.
From Time Magazine Archive
In October 1962, John F. Kennedy pocket-vetoed a District of Columbia obscenity bill, explaining that its search-and-seizure provisions seemed to him unconstitutional.
From Time Magazine Archive
Two years ago Congress passed legislation for the Government to operate its own property, only to have the bill pocket-vetoed by President Coolidge.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
