| 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 n.
|
Rain Check
A promise or commitment by a seller to a buyer that an item currently out of stock can be purchased at a later date for today's sale price.
Investopedia Commentary
The term originated from baseball spectators at games that were postponed because of rain would receive a check that could be used to attend a future game.
Also spelled: raincheck
rain check
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.