red-pencil

[ red-pen-suhl ]

verb (used with object),red-pen·ciled, red-pen·cil·ing or (especially British) red-pen·cilled, red-pen·cil·ling.
  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.

Origin of red-pencil

1
First recorded in 1955–60

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use red-pencil in a sentence

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

    The Danger Mark | Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for red-pencil

red-pencil

verb-cils, -cilling or -cilled or US -cils, -ciling or -ciled
  1. (tr) to revise or correct (a book, manuscript, etc)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012