⏳ Promise for later 🔜 To postpone 🎟️ A replacement ticket

rain check

1 5.1

A ticket to use later if an event is cancelled because of rain

noun
/reɪn tʃɛk/

: vale por otra entrada

Examples

I don't give rain checks.

Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)
If the concert is canceled due to rain, you will receive a rain check to attend the rescheduled show.
I got a rain check for the baseball game after the sudden downpour last night.
The festival gave out rain checks to everyone whose tickets were affected by the bad weather.

Surface Forms

rain check singular

rain checks plural

Morphology

rain + check

The meaning 'to postpone or decline now while indicating intention to accept or reschedule later' cannot be directly inferred from 'rain' (precipitation) + 'check' (a control or inspection). The expression is a conventionalized idiom originating from tickets/vouchers issued for rained-out events, so its specialized, historical sense is unlikely to be predictable to a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Rain check originally meant a paper ticket given at an outdoor event when rain forced a cancellation, letting the holder return for the rescheduled show. That's why the phrase refers to a 'voucher' or 'ticket' for a future date.