Word.ws English Dictionary

open-arse

UK/ˈəʊpənɑːs/

open-arse noun: the medlar fruit.

Noun

open-arse (plural open-arses)

  1. (UK, regional) The medlar fruit.
    • In several of our counties the same fruit is called an open arse; another of those unluckily belotted travesties of a very properly-expressed original phrase [...].1837, John Bellenden Kerr, An Essay on the Archaeology of our Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, vol II.1
    • On a second reading, prompted by the reproaches of several friends and scholars, I conclude that the pun on medlar, slangily known as ‘an open-arse’, and poperin pear, shape-resembling penis and scrotum, is so forcibly obvious that ‘an open et-caetera’ must here mean ‘an open arse’.1968, Eric Partridge, Shakespeare's Bawdy, Routledge, published 2002, page 129

Forms of open-arse

pluralopen-arses

Origin of open-arse

From Middle English open-ers, from Old English openears, corresponding to open + arse, ‘with allusion to the large cavity at the end of the fruit between the persistent calyx lobes’ – OED3.

Questions about open-arse

What does open-arse mean?
Open-arse means the medlar fruit.
What part of speech is open-arse?
Open-arse is a noun.
How do you pronounce open-arse?
Open-arse is pronounced /ˈəʊpənɑːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of open-arse?
The plural of open-arse is open-arses.

Words near open-arse in the dictionary

  1. open-air museum
  2. open-air museums
  3. open-aired
  4. open-and-shut
  5. open-armed
  6. open-arse
  7. open-arses
  8. open-back
  9. open-book
  10. open-book contract
  11. open-book contracts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: open-arse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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