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blue-pencil

[ bloo-pen-suh l ]

/ ˈbluˈpɛn səl /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR blue-pencil ON THESAURUS.COM

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

to alter, abridge, or cancel with or as with a pencil that has blue lead, as in editing a manuscript.

Origin of blue-pencil

First recorded in 1885–90

Words nearby blue-pencil

blue-green algae, blue-headed vireo, blue-jeaned, blue-leg, blue-on-blue, blue-pencil, blue-red, blue-ribbon, blue-ribbon jury, blue-ringed octopus, blue-rinse

Example sentences from the Web for blue-pencil

When he begins to blue-pencil that pay-roll, some one is going to be hungry.

The Modern Railroad |Edward Hungerford
I never do, and Harmer has to blue-pencil my copy mercilessly.

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908 |Lucy Maud Montgomery
You blue-pencil out of my poor paragraphs everything that's interesting.

The Dop Doctor |Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
He handed a map, with red-pencil and blue-pencil markings, along to von Schlichten.

Uller Uprising |Henry Beam Piper, John D. Clark and John F. Carr

Meantime I'll take your advice about my speech, Mac, and blue-pencil the how-to-be-good stuff.

The Clarion |Samuel Hopkins Adams