English Dictionary: 'open' | by the DICT Development Group |
8 results for 'open' | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Letter \Let"ter\, n. [OE. lettre, F. lettre, OF. letre, fr. L. littera, litera, a letter; pl., an epistle, a writing, literature, fr. linere, litum, to besmear, to spread or rub over; because one of the earliest modes of writing was by graving the characters upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. --Pliny, xiii. 11. See {Liniment}, and cf. {Literal}.] 1. A mark or character used as the representative of a sound, or of an articulation of the human organs of speech; a first element of written language. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew. --Luke xxiii. 38. 2. A written or printed communication; a message expressed in intelligible characters on something adapted to conveyance, as paper, parchment, etc.; an epistle. The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural. --Walsh. 3. A writing; an inscription. [Obs.] None could expound what this letter meant. --Chaucer. 4. Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement. We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. --Jer. Taylor. I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. --Tennyson. 5. (Print.) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type. Under these buildings . . . was the king's printing house, and that famous letter so much esteemed. --Evelyn. 6. pl. Learning; erudition; as, a man of letters. 7. pl. A letter; an epistle. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {Dead letter}, {Drop letter}, etc. See under {Dead}, {Drop}, etc. {Letter book}, a book in which copies of letters are kept. {Letter box}, a box for the reception of letters to be mailed or delivered. {Letter carrier}, a person who carries letters; a postman; specif., an officer of the post office who carries letters to the persons to whom they are addressed, and collects letters to be mailed. {Letter cutter}, one who engraves letters or letter punches. {Letter lock}, a lock that can not be opened when fastened, unless certain movable lettered rings or disks forming a part of it are in such a position (indicated by a particular combination of the letters) as to permit the bolt to be withdrawn. A strange lock that opens with AMEN. --Beau. & Fl. {Letter paper}, paper for writing letters on; especially, a size of paper intermediate between note paper and foolscap. See {Paper}. {Letter punch}, a steel punch with a letter engraved on the end, used in making the matrices for type. {Letters of administration} (Law), the instrument by which an administrator or administratrix is authorized to administer the goods and estate of a deceased person. {Letter of attorney}, {Letter of credit}, etc. See under {Attorney}, {Credit}, etc. {Letter of license}, a paper by which creditors extend a debtor's time for paying his debts. {Letters close [or] clause} (Eng. Law.), letters or writs directed to particular persons for particular purposes, and hence closed or sealed on the outside; -- distinguished from letters patent. --Burrill. {Letters of orders} (Eccl.), a document duly signed and sealed, by which a bishop makes it known that he has regularly ordained a certain person as priest, deacon, etc. {Letters patent}, {overt}, [or] {open} (Eng. Law), a writing executed and sealed, by which power and authority are granted to a person to do some act, or enjoy some right; as, letters patent under the seal of England. {Letter-sheet envelope}, a stamped sheet of letter paper issued by the government, prepared to be folded and sealed for transmission by mail without an envelope. {Letters testamentary} (Law), an instrument granted by the proper officer to an executor after probate of a will, authorizing him to act as executor. {Letter writer}. (a) One who writes letters. (b) A machine for copying letters. (c) A book giving directions and forms for the writing of letters. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Open \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. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Open \O"pen\, a. [AS. open; akin to D. open, OS. opan, G. offan, Icel. opinn, Sw. [94]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 [84]n f[84]r is open as compared with the [be] in s[be]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}. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Open \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 [bd]bold peasantry, their country's pride.[b8] --Prof. Wilson. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Open \O"pen\, n. Open or unobstructed space; clear land, without trees or obstructions; open ocean; open water. [bd]To sail into the open.[b8] --Jowett (Thucyd. ). Then we got into the open. --W. Black. {In open}, in full view; without concealment; openly. [Obs.] | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Audience \Au"di*ence\, n. [F. audience, L. audientia, fr. audire to hear. See {Audible}, a.] 1. The act of hearing; attention to sounds. Thou, therefore, give due audience, and attend. --Milton. 2. Admittance to a hearing; a formal interview, esp. with a sovereign or the head of a government, for conference or the transaction of business. According to the fair play of the world, Let me have audience: I am sent to speak. --Shak. 3. An auditory; an assembly of hearers. Also applied by authors to their readers. Fit audience find, though few. --Milton. He drew his audience upward to the sky. --Dryden. {Court of audience}, or {Audience court} (Eng.), a court long since disused, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; also, one belonging to the Archbishop of York. --Mozley & W. {In general} (or {open}) {audience}, publicly. {To give audience}, to listen; to admit to an interview. | |
From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [jargon]: | |
open n. Abbreviation for `open (or left) parenthesis' -- used when necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. To read aloud the LISP form (DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: "Open defun foo, open eks close, open, plus eks one, close close." | |
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]: | |
open 1. To prepare to read or write a file. This usually involves checking whether the file already exists and that the user has the necessary authorisation to read or write it. The result of a successful open is usually some kind of {capability} (e.g. a {Unix} {file descriptor}) - a token that the user passes back to the system in order to access the file without further checks and finally to close the file. 2. Abbreviation for "open (or left) parenthesis" - used when necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. To read aloud the LISP form (DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: "Open defun foo, open eks close, open, plus eks one, close close." 3. Non-proprietary. An open {standard} is one which can be used without payment. [{Jargon File}] (1995-01-31) |