open airn.adj.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 144 (MED) 2a. is complete bi..Obuiacioun, i. metyng, of þingez comyng to fro wiþoutforþ, baþing, & standyng vnder þe open aier [L. sub diuo].

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 1306 (MED) His wounded broþer..þei shulde bere, Oute of þe wardis fro þe grete pres..For tabreþe hym at leyser, or tavente In open eyr.

1519 W. Horman Vulgaria xix. f. 170^v A segehouse wold be vnder the open aire betwene two wallis.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Aiiii Her naturall inclinacion is to be abrode in the open ayre.

1588 T. Harlot Briefe & True Rep. F3(2) Furthermore, i all our trauailes which were most speciall and often in the time of winter, our lodging was in the open aire vpon the grounde.

1629 J. Beaumont Bosworth-field 17 A Steare..now in quiet drawes The open ayre.

1659 R. Lovelace Poems (1864) 177 Now he takes the open air, Drawes up his wings with tactick care.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 115 Whether, to roofy Houses they repair, Or Sun themselves abroad in open Air . View more context for this quotation

1717 G. Berkeley Jrnls. Trav. Italy 24 Jan. in Wks. (1955) VII. 265 A Jesuit preaching in the open air.

1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful ii. §27. 63 A greater light than you had in the open air.

1779 J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 508 Suppose you should make a statical chair, and try whether perspiration is most copious in a warm bed, or stark naked in the open air.

1791 J. O'Keeffe Wild Oats ii. i. 24 Rain over—quite fair,—I'll take a sniff of the open air too.

1806 R. Patterson Adams's Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. (rev. ed.) I. App. 524 [Carbon] is indestructible by any agent except fire in the open air.

1851 Beck's Florist 148 A leaf of the Victoria regia, said to be grown in the open air at Chelsea.

1906 T. Hardy Let. 21 May in K. Gregory First Cuckoo (1978) 62 The appearance of the author..was so different from the look of persons who usually address crowds in the open air that it held the attention of people.

1966 H. Moore On Sculpture 112 It may also be that my liking for landscape and for nature has made me want to work out-of-doors too, because I find a tremendous pleasure in actually working in the open air.

1990 C. R. Johnson Middle Passage (1991) vi. 138 Once the wooziness passed, I pulled my sleeve down to my wrist and climbed back into open air.

1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 287 Moderate Exercises in open Airs, which is profitable for all People.

1830 New Baptist Misc. Aug. 331/1 (heading) Open air preaching in the villages.

1842 W. Howitt Rural & Domest. Life Germany xvii. 237 Those open-air concerts, walks and other amusements.

1878 B. Stewart & P. G. Tait Unseen Universe i. §48. 67 They have an open-air look about them.

1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 297 The hygienic and dietetic arrangements and especially the open-air treatment.

1949 A. Koestler Promise & Fulfilm. iii. i. 296 A people living underground must be single-minded..; but these qualities when carried over into open-air politics, become a grave handicap.

1958 Times 25 Oct. 10/7 His editorial influence was always exerted towards purity and strength [in music]... His songs..are animated by the same open-air kind of ideals.

1990 Antique Dealer & Collector's Finds Nov. 18/1 However two breakaway artistic schools—those of Realistic and Open Air painting—gathered force throughout the century.

1891 Daily News 14 Oct. 5/1 A fastidious age..trying for all sorts of refinements of the art—for impression, for ‘open airism’, for values, for good workmanship as such.