red-pencil

American  

[red-pen-suhl] / ˈrɛdˈpɛn səl /

verb (used with object)

red-penciled, red-penciling red-pencilled, red-pencilling

1. to delete, censor, correct, or abridge (written material) with or as if with a pencil having a red lead.

   His book was heavily red-penciled before it got clearance.

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red-pencil British  

verb

1. (tr) to revise or correct (a book, manuscript, etc)

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Etymology

Origin of red-pencil

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Industry analysts see areas which the well-financed bank lobby will be eager to red-pencil.

From Reuters

In his office he was said to have kept a box of used red-pencil caps as one way of keeping score.

From Washington Post

A red-pencil sketch by Peter — depicting a nude, muscular David from the neck down — winds up in Evert’s hands.

From Seattle Times

“The Child” is a middling and much-too-long suspense story that would have benefited from a ruthless red-pencil.

From Washington Post

Precisely because the spoken word is so important to the Arabs, government censors at first felt compelled to red-pencil portions of the regular Friday sermon from the silver-domed El Aksa mosque.

From Time Magazine Archive