wide openadj.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 157 Hwen ha ihereð þet scletteð þe earen adun. Ach þe luft aȝein þe uuel is eauer wid opene.

a1425 Dialogue Reason & Adversity (Cambr.) (1968) 35 (MED) Þoow þi dore stond wide open, flateres wole passen bi; jdel men with þer feet schul not defile þi þreschfold.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 2142 Werpis þam [sc. the gates] vp..& wyde open settis.

a1500 ( Vision E. Leversedge (1991) l. 110 (MED) Þey at þat tyme þat kepyd my body shyt aȝane þe seyd ii doers, and ȝit aȝene þey dyd flye wyd opyn.

1602 J. Nichols Abrahams Faith i. iii. 59 God hath set forth as in a wide open book, the two couenants.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. i. 219 This is a strange repose, to be asleepe With eyes wide open . View more context for this quotation

1673 E. Hickeringill Gregory 302 With wide open Mouth and Cheveril Lungs.

1715 R. Bentley Serm. Popery 27 The whole Warehouse, now kept under Key, will again be set wide open.

1727 Art Speaking in Publick 62 A Broad way of Speaking, with the mouth wide open.

1790 A. Geddes Epistola Macaronica ad Fratrem 15 A Cod..with his wide-open jaws.

1852 Ld. Tennyson Let. 18 Aug. (1987) II. 41 Looking at me with such apparently earnest, wide open eyes.

1854 C. Patmore Betrothal in Angel in House 18 The windows, all wide open thrown.

1877 W. Black Green Pastures i. 9 They..drew up in front of the wide-open door.

1944 Billboard 5 Aug. 12/2 At present video cameras are operated with wide-open lenses which cuts down the depth of focus.

1977 D. Morris Manwatching 185 The pseudo-infantile woman displays pouted lips, wide-open eyes, and child-like body postures.

2013 T. Pynchon Bleeding Edge xxxiv. 369 Apartment doors are all wide open.

a1325 (?c1300) Northern Passion (Cambr. Gg.1.1) l. 1500 A token Iesu..And leiden him wid opene on þe rod.

?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 137^v, in Middle Eng. Dict. Wide Þe pacyent schal euer more lye wyde open to he be hole.

c1440 Sir Degrevant (Thornton) (1949) l. 351 He lefte slayne..Ten score..Wyde opyn on þe bake.

c1450 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 607/43 Resupinus, wyde ope.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. UUUii He thus lyeng wyde open, and they goyng ouer hym & bestrydynge hym.

1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Dvj^v Whan a mans body is in any wyse placed, as to lie a syde, to stande vpright, to sitte, to leane, to lye grouelyng, to lye wyde open.

1599 J. Minsheu Percyvall's Dict. Spanish & Eng. 46/3 Bóca arriba, lying wide open with his face vpward.

?1544 J. Heywood Foure PP sig. D.i^v Thys forsayd ryuer so depe before That who lyste nowe to walke therto May wade it ouer and wet no shoo So was thys castell layd wyde open.

1573 G. Gascoigne & F. Kinwelmersh Iocasta ii. i. in G. Gascoigne Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 104 In whose high brest may iustice builde hir boure When princes harts wide open lye to wrong?

1588 S. Bredwell Rasing Found. Brownisme 34 Here he thinking me to lie wide open, runneth violently vpon me..to dispatch mee at a blowe.

1624 F. Quarles Iob Militant xiv. sig. L4^v My troubled spirit lyesWide open to the worst of iniuries.

1644 R. Carpenter Downfal of Anti-Christ i. xvi. 114 He lieth wide open to the ticklings of vaine-glory, and hypocrisie.

1846 Forest Hill I. xvii. 236 Its [sic] ‘yes Sir’,—‘no Sir’,—‘as you please, Sir’, leaving all the field wide open to Clotilda.

1897 Indianapolis Sun 9 Feb. He was almost a head shorter than McPartland, whose reach was so long that Lavigne had to throw himself wide open in order to get anywhere near his opponent.

1915 E. Corri Thirty Years Boxing Referee 150 Johnny Summers..in an unguarded moment, left himself wide open and encountered one of the most decisive knock-out punches I ever saw.

1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? i. 14 You never find me going in for favors... It leaves you wide open.

1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive iv. 42 One fine day he would catch me wide open and slam me down.

2015 Australian (Nexis) 6 June 18 The volume and variety of this creative polymath's work are what leaves him wide open to criticism.

1858 Spectator 24 July 769/1 Mr. Roebuck..took the wide-open opportunity of calling the House of Lords ‘an ass’!

1881 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 10 Feb. 8/1 There was no reason in the world why he should steal, except that he could not resist a wide-open opportunity.

1902 G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-made Merchant xi. 143 You have had a wide open chance during the last few months to pick up a good deal about the practical end of the business.

1993 Wired Mar. (Premiere Issue) 104/2 Unlike vouchers for school or college tuition, microvouchers will create a true, wide-open, location-free, competitive market for learning which has the elasticity to efficiently and quickly match supply and demand.

2011 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 28 July b2/4 Rooney..took a return pass and then found Anderson breaking into the area alone for a wide-open shot.

1892 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 15 May 12/ Where the race is wide open and free for all,..the hindmost horse could..swing down under the wire first.

1918 Amer. Artisan & Hardware Rec. 13 Apr. 23/1 The merchandise transaction from which the obligation grows remains wide open until the debt is fully paid.

1937 Laredo (Texas) Times 25 Dec. 1/4 The contest is wide open and new nominations will be printed as received.

1963 ‘J. Melville’ Burning is Substitute iii. 51 Charmian suddenly had the feeling that this affair..was wide open, could reach anywhere.

1982 ‘C. Aird’ Last Respects xiii. 137 It's [sc. a murder enquiry] what you might call wide open still... You'll have to look on it as a challenge.

2015 A. Howard Humanise iv. 39 The future is wide open, full of boundless possibility.

1892 Harper's Mag. June 103/1 It is what they call in Montana ‘a wide-open town’.

1905 B. Tarkington In Arena 5 In fact, he had the reputation of running a disorderly town, and the truth is, it was too wide open.

a1910 ‘M. Twain’ Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy iv. in Mark Twain's Hannibal, Huck & Tom (1969) 188 He was..taking up the collection, Sundays, and doing it wide open and square,..where everybody could see.

1910 N.Y. Evening Post 27 Oct. 1 Never in all that time has the town been so wide open as now... There are violations of the excise law..being flaunted that are degrading this city.

1923 J. H. Cook Old Frontier 90 As usual in such towns, gambling houses could be easily found and they were run ‘wide open’.

1933 S. Walker Night Club Era 204/1 William Duffy, prize-fight manager and dear old pal of the underworld,..kept it for a time as a wide-open barroom and restaurants.

1971 D. Wells & S. Dance Night People vii. 104 Of course, those girlhouses were wide open in Paris then, and it was a miracle we could hold the cats together long enough to record.

2010 J. Boessenecker Bandido Epil. 381 The Monterey of his youth was a wide-open town where drinking, gambling, whoring, fighting, and robbing were commonplace.