Definitions for: Open


[n] information that has become public; "all the reports were out in the open"; "the facts had been brought to the surface"
[n] a tournament in which both professionals and amateurs may play
[n] where the air is unconfined; "he wanted to get outdoors a little"; "the concert was held in the open air"; "camping in the open"
[n] a clear or unobstructed space or expanse of land or water; "finally broke out of the forest into the open"
[adj] ready for business; "the stores are open"
[adj] not having been filled; "the job is still open"
[adj] receptive to new ideas; "an open mind"; "open to new ideas"
[adj] opened out; "an open newspaper"
[adj] relatively empty of and unobstructed by fences or hedges or headlands or shoals; "in open country"; "the open countryside"; "open waters"; "on the open seas"
[adj] sincere and free of reserve in expression; "Please be open with me"
[adj] openly straightforward and direct without reserve or secretiveness; "his candid eyes"; "an open and trusting nature"
[adj] lax in enforcing laws; "an open town"
[adj] without undue constriction as from e.g. tenseness or inhibition; "the clarity and resonance of an open tone"; "her natural and open response"
[adj] affording free passage or view; "a clear view"; "a clear path to victory"
[adj] affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed; "an open door"; "they left the door open"
[adj] affording free passage or access; "open drains"; "the road is open to traffic"; "open ranks"
[adj] used of mouth or eyes; "keep your eyes open"; "his mouth slightly opened"
[adj] having no protecting cover or enclosure; "an open boat"; "an open fire"; "open sports cars"
[adj] (music) used of string or hole or pipe of instruments
[adj] (mathematics) of a set; containing points whose neighborhood consists of other points of the same set, or being the complement of an open set; of an interval; containing neither of its end points
[adj] open and observable; not secret or hidden; "an overt lie"; "overt hostility"; "overt intelligence gathering"
[adj] open to or in view of all; "an open protest"; "an open letter to the editor"
[adj] with no protection or shield; "the exposed northeast frontier"; "open to the weather"; "an open wound"
[adj] accessible to all; "open season"; "an open economy"
[adj] not sealed or having been unsealed; "the letter was already open"; "the opened package lay on the table"
[adj] without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious; "open disregard of the law"; "open family strife"; "open hostility"; "a blatant appeal to vanity"; "a blazing indiscretion"
[adj] not secret; "open plans"; "an open ballot"
[adj] not brought to a conclusion; subject to further thought; "an open question"; "our position on this bill is still undecided"; "our lawsuit is still undetermined"
[adj] (of textures) full of small openings or gaps; "an open texture"; "a loose weave"
[adj] not defended or capable of being defended; "an open city"; "open to attack"
[v] make available, as of an opportunity; "This opens up new possibilities"
[v] become available; "an opportunity opened up"
[v] make the opening move, in chess; "Kasparov opened with a standard opening"
[v] cause to open or to become open; "Mary opened the car door"
[v] become open; "The door opened"
[v] spread out or open from a closed or folded state; "open the map"; "spread your arms"
[v] display the contents of a file or start an application
[v] afford access to; "the door opens to the patio"; "The French doors give onto a terrace"
[v] begin or set in action, of meetings, speeches, recitals, etc.; "He opened the meeting with a long speech"
[v] start to operate or function or cause to start operating or functioning; "open a business"
[v] have an opening or passage or outlet; "The bedrooms open into the hall"



Webster (1913) Definition: O"pen, a. [AS. open; akin to D. open, OS. opan, G. offan,
Icel. opinn, Sw. ["o]ppen, Dan. aaben, and perh. to E. up.
Cf. Up, and Ope.]
1. Free of access; not shut up; not closed; affording
unobstructed ingress or egress; not impeding or preventing
passage; not locked up or covered over; -- applied to
passageways; as, an open door, window, road, etc.; also,
to inclosed structures or objects; as, open houses, boxes,
baskets, bottles, etc.; also, to means of communication or
approach by water or land; as, an open harbor or
roadstead.

Through the gate, Wide open and unquarded, Satan
passed. --Milton

Note: Also, figuratively, used of the ways of communication
of the mind, as by the senses; ready to hear, see,
etc.; as, to keep one's eyes and ears open.

His ears are open unto their cry. --Ps. xxxiv.
15.

2. Free to be used, enjoyed, visited, or the like; not
private; public; unrestricted in use; as, an open library,
museum, court, or other assembly; liable to the approach,
trespass, or attack of any one; unprotected; exposed.

If Demetrius . . . have a matter against any man,
the law is open and there are deputies. --Acts xix.
33.

The service that I truly did his life, Hath left me
open to all injuries. --Shak.

3. Free or cleared of obstruction to progress or to view;
accessible; as, an open tract; the open sea.

4. Not drawn together, closed, or contracted; extended;
expanded; as, an open hand; open arms; an open flower; an
open prospect.

Each, with open arms, embraced her chosen knight.
--Dryden.

5. Hence:
(a) Without reserve or false pretense; sincere;
characterized by sincerity; unfeigned; frank; also,
generous; liberal; bounteous; -- applied to personal
appearance, or character, and to the expression of
thought and feeling, etc.

With aspect open, shall erect his head. --Pope.

The Moor is of a free and open nature. --Shak.

The French are always open, familiar, and
talkative. --Addison.
(b) Not concealed or secret; not hidden or disguised;
exposed to view or to knowledge; revealed; apparent;
as, open schemes or plans; open shame or guilt.

His thefts are too open. --Shak.

That I may find him, and with secret gaze Or
open admiration him behold. --Milton.

6. Not of a quality to prevent communication, as by closing
water ways, blocking roads, etc.; hence, not frosty or
inclement; mild; -- used of the weather or the climate;
as, an open season; an open winter. --Bacon.

7. Not settled or adjusted; not decided or determined; not
closed or withdrawn from consideration; as, an open
account; an open question; to keep an offer or opportunity
open.

8. Free; disengaged; unappropriated; as, to keep a day open
for any purpose; to be open for an engagement.

9. (Phon.)
(a) Uttered with a relatively wide opening of the
articulating organs; -- said of vowels; as, the ["a]n
f["a]r is open as compared with the [=a] in s[=a]y.
(b) Uttered, as a consonant, with the oral passage simply
narrowed without closure, as in uttering s.

10. (Mus.)
(a) Not closed or stopped with the finger; -- said of the
string of an instrument, as of a violin, when it is
allowed to vibrate throughout its whole length.
(b) Produced by an open string; as, an open tone.

The open air, the air out of doors.

Open chain. (Chem.) See Closed chain, under Chain.

Open circuit (Elec.), a conducting circuit which is
incomplete, or interrupted at some point; -- opposed to an
uninterrupted, or closed circuit.

Open communion, communion in the Lord's supper not
restricted to persons who have been baptized by immersion.
Cf. Close communion, under Close, a.

Open diapason (Mus.), a certain stop in an organ, in which
the pipes or tubes are formed like the mouthpiece of a
flageolet at the end where the wind enters, and are open
at the other end.

Open flank (Fort.), the part of the flank covered by the
orillon.

Open-front furnace (Metal.), a blast furnace having a
forehearth.

Open harmony (Mus.), harmony the tones of which are widely
dispersed, or separated by wide intervals.

Open hawse (Naut.), a hawse in which the cables are
parallel or slightly divergent. Cf. Foul hawse, under
Hawse.

Open hearth (Metal.), the shallow hearth of a reverberatory
furnace.

Open-hearth furnace, a reverberatory furnace; esp., a kind
of reverberatory furnace in which the fuel is gas, used in
manufacturing steel.

Open-hearth process (Steel Manuf.), a process by which
melted cast iron is converted into steel by the addition
of wrought iron, or iron ore and manganese, and by
exposure to heat in an open-hearth furnace; -- also called
the Siemens-Martin process, from the inventors.

Open-hearth steel, steel made by an open-hearth process; --
also called Siemens-Martin steel.

Open newel. (Arch.) See Hollow newel, under Hollow.

Open pipe (Mus.), a pipe open at the top. It has a pitch
about an octave higher than a closed pipe of the same
length.

Open-timber roof (Arch.), a roof of which the
constructional parts, together with the under side of the
covering, or its lining, are treated ornamentally, and
left to form the ceiling of an apartment below, as in a
church, a public hall, and the like.

Open vowel or consonant. See Open, a., 9.

Note: Open is used in many compounds, most of which are
self-explaining; as, open-breasted, open-minded.

Syn: Unclosed; uncovered; unprotected; exposed; plain;
apparent; obvious; evident; public; unreserved; frank;
sincere; undissembling; artless. See Candid, and
Ingenuous.


O"pen, n.
Open or unobstructed space; clear land, without trees or
obstructions; open ocean; open water. ``To sail into the
open.'' --Jowett (Thucyd. ).

Then we got into the open. --W. Black.

In open, in full view; without concealment; openly. [Obs.]


O"pen v. t. [imp. & p. p. Opened; p. pr. & vb. n.
Opening.] [AS. openian. See Open,a.]
1. To make or set open; to render free of access; to unclose;
to unbar; to unlock; to remove any fastening or covering
from; as, to open a door; to open a box; to open a room;
to open a letter.

And all the windows of my heart I open to the day.
--Whittier.

2. To spread; to expand; as, to open the hand.

3. To disclose; to reveal; to interpret; to explain.

The king opened himself to some of his council, that
he was sorry for the earl's death. --Bacon.

Unto thee have I opened my cause. --Jer. xx. 12.

While he opened to us the Scriptures. --Luke xxiv.
32.

4. To make known; to discover; also, to render available or
accessible for settlements, trade, etc.

The English did adventure far for to open the North
parts of America. --Abp. Abbot.

5. To enter upon; to begin; as, to open a discussion; to open
fire upon an enemy; to open trade, or correspondence; to
open a case in court, or a meeting.

6. To loosen or make less compact; as, to open matted cotton
by separating the fibers.

To open one's mouth, to speak.

To open up, to lay open; to discover; to disclose.

Poetry that had opened up so many delightful views
into the character and condition of our ``bold
peasantry, their country's pride.'' --Prof.
Wilson.


O"pen, v. i.
1. To unclose; to form a hole, breach, or gap; to be
unclosed; to be parted.

The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and
covered the company of Abiram. --Ps. cvi. 17.

2. To expand; to spread out; to be disclosed; as, the harbor
opened to our view.

3. To begin; to commence; as, the stock opened at par; the
battery opened upon the enemy.

4. (Sporting) To bark on scent or view of the game.

Synonyms: active, afford, agape(p), agaze, ajar(p), artless, assailable, available, bald, barefaced, blatant, blazing, candid, clear, clear, coarse, conspicuous, empty, exposed, gaping, give, honest, honorable, impartial, ingenuous, lawless, loose, naked, obvious, open air, open up, open up, opened, outdoors, out-of-doors, overt, raw, round-eyed, spread, spread out, staring, surface, unconstricted, undecided, undefendable, undefended, undetermined, undisguised, unenclosed, unfastened, unfold, unfolded, unlawful, unobstructed, unprejudiced, unprotected, unresolved, unrestricted, unsettled, unstopped, unstoppered, visible, vulnerable, wide, wide-eyed, wide-open, yawning

Antonyms: close, close, close, close down, closed, covert, fold, fold, fold up, shut, shut, shut down, stopped, turn up, unopen

See Also: afford, area, arise, breach, break open, butterfly, change state, click open, come up, commence, country, display, divaricate, embark on, establish, exfoliate, exhibit, explicit, expose, expressed, exterior, fly open, found, gap, general knowledge, give, go, grass, inaugurate, jimmy, lance, launch, lever, move, open, open, open, open up, outside, pioneer, prise, prize, pry, public, public knowledge, reopen, set up, splay, start, start up, tournament, tourney, turn, unbar, unbolt, unconcealed, uncork, uncross, undo, unfasten, unlock, unseal, unsealed, yield

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