Can you possibly tell me the origin of the word rain check? Not only is it possible - it is probable!American baseball fans will be familiar with the term, as that is where it arose: when a game was rained out, those who had tickets for that game were given a rain check which they could redeem at another game. That might explain why efforts to prevent a baseball game from being canceled by rain (and rain checks issued) are so prodigious: covering the playing field with tarp, keeping the fans and players waiting as long as possible to see if the downpour will end. The term was soon used metaphorically, and by the 1970s it had spread outside the U.S. and into other English-speaking countries. The use of the term as early as 1884 gives some indication as to the popularity of baseball in the U.S. even at that time: 'The heavy rain yesterday threw a damper over local operations. At each of the parks the audience had to be content with three innings and rain checks.' (St. Louis Missouri Post-Dispatch 26 May).