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

See Examples For:

red-pencil red-penciled red-penciling red-pencilled

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 ● Sep. 28, 2021

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

He tore it up to light his pipe, and, just as he was twisting it, caught sight of a red-pencil mark.

From Renée Mauperin by Hallard, Alys

Business-side types red-penciled Mr. Giangrande’s original plan to lug the capsule downtown.

From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2017

After “Up the Down Staircase” was published, she wrote, an assistant principal there began annotating his official directives with a stern red-penciled admonition.

From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2014

His good friend Hershy Kay completed the orchestration from Kurka's red-penciled notes.

From Time Magazine Archive

I red-penciled eleven “ads”—jobs in three different dress factories, sewing buttons on shoes.

From Working With the Working Woman by Parker, Cornelia Stratton

Wallis checks every budget, red-penciling items he thinks too high.

From Time Magazine Archive

That red-pencilled area I've marked off," Robert Reeger said, "is what we'll be concerned with.

From Lease to Doomsday by Finlay, Virgil

He turned the paper over in his hand until he found the red-pencilled article the doctor had referred to.

From Heart by Slesar, Henry

Seated at the library table he opened the letter and saw at once that the red-pencilled cross at the top was missing.

From The Danger Mark by Wenzell, A. B.