Dictionary.net

• The Constitution provides that, if the President does not either sign or veto a bill within ten days, it shall become law without his signature, "unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law." This gives the President opportunity to prevent a bill from becoming law, if it is passed in the last days of a session, by simply taking no action upon it. This is called the "pocket veto." It was first used by President Madison in 1812 in the case of a naturalization act. But the first conspicuous instances were those by General Jackson, seven of whose twelve vetoes were of this sort.

1894 - Dictionary of United States history
By John Franklin Jameson