From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishred cardˌred ˈcard noun [countable] DSFa red card held up by the referee in a football match, to show that a player has done something against the rules and will not be allowed to play for the rest of the game → yellow card
Examples from the Corpus
red card• Sutton was lucky to escape a red card when he handled a Campbell shot outside his area as Derby maintained their revival.• Instead, he saw the dreaded red card.• It is a cruel blow and one that again underlines the inconsistency of the red card law.• Referee Bob Nixon was told of the outburst and immediately showed the red card to the big target man.• Herd was shown the red card only three minutes after Nicky Henderson had grabbed an equaliser for Cowdenbeath.• And then Skerrett was shown the red card and Platt was sin-binned along with Saints' Nickle after a flare-up.• Ex-Wigan star Smith was shown the red card for a high tackle on Keighleywinger Craig Horne. 