rain check

American  

Or raincheck

noun

rain checks plural

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

---

rain check British  

noun

1. a ticket stub for a baseball or other game that allows readmission on a future date if the event is cancelled because of rain

2. 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

3. informal to accept the postponement of an offer

---

rain check Idioms  

1. 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.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• rain checks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rain check

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

I thought, “Do you need a rain check or to reschedule? You were just attacked by appetizers.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

And she advises that if the holiday itself feels too difficult, consider offering a rain check.

From Salon • Nov. 22, 2023

In this case, however, the high-profile A-listers had little choice but to ask the royal family for a rain check.

From Washington Post • Oct. 19, 2018

But instead of a first look, fans got a rain check.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 10, 2012

If I had competitions, or if practice ran late, I’d have to take a rain check on the MSA.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad