open house

Noun

open house (plural open houses)

1. A house habitually kept open to callers.
   • He keeps a kind of open house for all the respectable young men of the town who are staying in lodgings.1839, Samuel Butler, The Hand-Book for Australian Emigrants: Being a Descriptive History of Australia, page 67
   • My secrets cry aloud.
     I have no need for tongue.
     My heart keeps open house,
     My doors are widely swung.1941, Theodore Roethke, “Open House”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC...
2. An event, often in one's home, at which there are few restrictions regarding who and how many may attend.
   • Over the year, we had been invited to many people′s homes, enjoying good food and warm hospitality. It had not been possible for us to reciprocate in every case, so we decided to invite everyone to an open house ‘barbie’-cum-buffet in order to say a mass farewell.2006, Geoff Porter, Little Bites of Australia, page 265
   • Visitors to the Wests′ weekend open houses would often include Gore Vidal, David Niven, Vatican power brokers, ex-Queen Frederica of Greece and members of various superrich families, including the Vanderbilts, Guggenheims and von Furstenbergs.2011, Kate Askew, Dot. Bomb Australia: How We Wrangled, Conned and Argie-Bargied Our Way into the New Digital Universe, page 44
3. An event during which a facility or institution is open to the public for inspection or tour.

   Synonyms:

   open day

4. (Australia, Canada, US) A period of time, usually several hours in a day, during which a house which is for sale is open for inspection or tour by interested parties.
   • We′re holding an open house this weekend at 77 Parkway Road.
   • I took my sign out of the boot and put it up that morning, then arranged the advertising and open house viewings as soon as I returned to my office.2009, Peter Yong Huang, The Australian Dream and $1 Properties, page 133
5. (US) A casual school event where the school invites parents or guardians to tour their child's school and meet the teachers before the school year begins