rejection slip

plural rejection slips

1. mediaA standardized message notifying an author that his or her work has not been accepted for publication, ordinarily printed on a small piece of paper and attached to the returned manuscript.

   The rejection slip was so tactfully worded that he felt kindly toward the editor.

   1909, Jack London, chapter 11, in Martin Eden

   2 more examples

   The editor . . . returned the manuscript with a rejection slip. Anthony sent it off elsewhere and began another story.

   1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1, 2, or 3)

   I told my writers . . . by the end of the term they'd have to bring in either a rejection slip or a check from a publisher.

   2002 April 14, Frank McCourt, “Reflections on Creative Writing Class”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 Aug 2015