open

a. [ AS. open; akin to D. open, OS. opan, G. offan, Icel. opinn, Sw. öppen, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Through the gate,
Wide open and unguarded, Satan passed. Milton [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ] His ears are open unto their cry. Ps. xxxiv. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

If Demetrius . . . have a matter against any man, the law is open and there are deputies. Acts xix. 33. [ 1913 Webster ]

The service that I truly did his life,
Hath left me open to all injuries. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Free or cleared of obstruction to progress or to view; accessible; as, an open tract; the open sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Not drawn together, closed, or contracted; extended; expanded; as, an open hand; open arms; an open flower; an open prospect. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each, with open arms, embraced her chosen knight. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

With aspect open, shall erect his head. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Moor is of a free and open nature. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The French are always open, familiar, and talkative. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

(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; open source code. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

His thefts are too open. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

That I may find him, and with secret gaze
Or open admiration him behold. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Free; disengaged; unappropriated; as, to keep a day open for any purpose; to be open for an engagement. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Phon.) (a) Uttered with a relatively wide opening of the articulating organs; -- said of vowels; as, the än fär is open as compared with the ā in sāy. (b) Uttered, as a consonant, with the oral passage simply narrowed without closure, as in uttering s. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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
Open consonant. See Open, a., 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Open is used in many compounds, most of which are self-explaining; as, open-breasted, open-minded. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Unclosed; uncovered; unprotected; exposed; plain; apparent; obvious; evident; public; unreserved; frank; sincere; undissembling; artless. See Candid, and Ingenuous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Open or unobstructed space; clear land, without trees or obstructions; open ocean; open water. “To sail into the open.” Jowett (Thucyd.). [ 1913 Webster ]

Then we got into the open. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

In open,
In th open, in full view; without concealment; openly. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

And all the windows of my heart
I open to the day. Whittier. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To spread; to expand; as, to open the hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To disclose; to reveal; to interpret; to explain. [ 1913 Webster ]

The king opened himself to some of his council, that he was sorry for the earl's death. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unto thee have I opened my cause. Jer. xx. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

While he opened to us the Scriptures. Luke xxiv. 32. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To make known; to discover; also, to render available or accessible for settlements, trade, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The English did adventure far for to open the North parts of America. Abp. Abbot. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To enter upon; to begin; as, to open a discussion; to open fire upon an enemy; to open trade, or correspondence; to open an investigation; to open a case in court, or a meeting. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To loosen or make less compact; as, to open matted cotton by separating the fibers. [ 1913 Webster ]

To open one's mouth,
to speak. --
To open up, to lay open; to discover; to disclose. [ 1913 Webster ]

Poetry that had opened up so many delightful views into the character and condition of our “bold peasantry, their country's pride.” Prof. Wilson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Taking place in the open air; outdoor; as, an open-air game or meeting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A bird of the genus Anastomus, allied to the stork; -- so called because the two parts of the bill touch only at the base and tip. One species inhabits India, another Africa. Called also open-beak. See Illust. (m), under Beak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. same as opencut.
Syn. -- opencut, strip(prenominal). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. (Chemistry) not cyclic; having no rings of atoms within the molecular structure; having an open chain structure. Opposite of cyclic. [ Narrower terms: aliphatic ]
Syn. -- acyclic. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. not buttoned at the neck; -- of a shirt; as, dressed casually in shorts and an open-collared shirt. [ WordNet 1.5 ]