What does ‘take a rain check’ mean?
To “take a rain check” means to politely decline now but accept later. A 19th-century American idiom from baseball, where a rain-check ticket admitted a spectator to a rescheduled game after a rain-out. Not in Brewer's 1898.
Origin
- A 19th-century American idiom from baseball, where a rain-check ticket admitted a spectator to a rescheduled game after a rain-out. Not in Brewer's 1898.
How to use it
- Very common in social invitations.
- Example: I can't tonight, but let me take a rain check.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18
- Definitions and origins are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), with modern usage notes clearly marked.