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bolt to be withdrawn.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.
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}.
Then we got into the open. --W. Black.
{In open}, in full view; without concealment; openly. [Obs.]
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.
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.
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.