OPEN DOOR • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Open door

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/ˈoʊpən dɔr/ Listen

noun

Open door n.

Open or free admission to all; hospitable welcome; free opportunity. "She of the open soul and open door, With room about her hearth for all mankind."

In modern diplomacy, opportunity for political and commercial intercourse open to all upon equal terms, esp. with reference to a nation whose policy is wholly or partially fixed by nations foreign to itself, or to territory newly acquired by a conquering nation. In this sense, often used adjectively, as, open-door system, open-door policy, etc. "The steps taken by Britain to maintain the open door have so far proved to be perfectly futile."

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Etymology of 'Open door'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Open door" Quotes from Famous Books

... upon a bed of dried balsam-leaves inside a little hut, and through the half-open door I could see the sun just dipping behind the mountains. Besides the bed the hut contained a roughly hewn table and chair and a bookcase with a few books in it. Upon a wall hung a big crucifix of wood, and under it an ...

— Jacqueline of Golden River • H. M. Egbert

... gentle, did not ruffle the chaste repose of her bosom. She was in a beauteous sleep, peaceful yet sound, her profile perfect, her nut-brown hair twisted into a knot, and her head leaning forward somewhat, as though she had fallen asleep while eagerly listening. At the farther end of the room the open door of an adjoining closet seemed but a black square in ...

— A Love Episode • Emile Zola

... them, and in splendid Chinese cages, birds of gorgeous plumage have learned to caress the rosy lips of their young mistress, or perch triumphantly on her snowy finger. Here are books, too, and music—a harp—a piano—while through a half open door leading from a little recess over which a multaflora is taught to twine its graceful tendrils, a glimpse may be caught of rosy silken hangings shading the couch where the queen of this little realm nightly sinks ...

— Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII No. 4, April 1848 • Various

... last an exquisitely toned bell struck the hour from one of the minarets. To Cashel, accustomed to the coarse jangling of ordinary English bells, the sound seemed to belong to fairyland. He went slowly back to the Warren Lodge, and found his trainer standing at the open door, smoking, and anxiously awaiting his return. Cashel rebuffed certain conciliatory advances with a haughty reserve more dignified, but much less acceptable to Mr. Mellish, than his former profane familiarity, and went contemplatively ...

— Cashel Byron's Profession • George Bernard Shaw

... Jane walked past the wood shed; passed what seemed to be a tool house because through the open door she saw tools of all sorts and sizes; and on across the yard toward ...

— Mary Jane--Her Visit • Clara Ingram Judson

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