Word.ws English Dictionary

open out

open out verb: to expand, to widen, to unwrap, unfold or uncover, to spread out from a compact state.

Verb

open out (third-person singular simple present opens out, present participle opening out, simple past and past participle opened out)

  1. To expand, to widen, to unwrap, unfold or uncover, to spread out from a compact state.
    • Once though the station the deep-throated exhaust of G.C.R. engines, and particularly the "Directors", could be heard in ascending crescendo as the drivers opened out to take the gradient.1954 July, C. R. L. Coles, “Memories of the Great Central”, in Railway Magazine, page 464
    • To obtain the required overhead clearance at Stockport, it will be necessary to open out the Edgeley tunnels.1958 July, “Bridge Reconstruction for L.M.R. Electrification”, in Railway Magazine, page 488
  2. To facilitate wider access or expand options.
    • The plan will open out the region for trade.
  3. To increase the amount of air in an engine, such as by pressing on the accelerator to open a throttle plate or butterfly valve.

Forms of open out

third-person singular presentopens out
present participleopening out
past participleopened out
pastopened out

Questions about open out

What does open out mean?
Open out means to expand, to widen, to unwrap, unfold or uncover, to spread out from a compact state.
What part of speech is open out?
Open out is a verb.
What is the past tense of open out?
The past tense of open out is opened out.

Words near open out in the dictionary

  1. open one's heart
  2. open one's legs
  3. open one's mind
  4. open one's mouth
  5. open order
  6. open out
  7. open outcry
  8. open outsourcing
  9. open Pandora's box
  10. open play
  11. open position

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: open out (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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