1383. Chaucer, Prol. to Reeve's Tale, i. 17. I fare as doth an openers; That ilke fruyt is ever leng the wers Til it be roten in mullok or in stre.
1530. Palsgrave, Les Clar. Langue Fran, s.v. opynars.
1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 1. Now will he sit under a medlar-tree, And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit, As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone—Oh, Romeo, that she were, oh, that she were An open-arse.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Nespola, the fruit we call a Meddler or an open-arse.
1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Medlar. A fruit vulgarly called an open-a—e, of which it is more truly than delicately said, that it is never ripe till it is rotten as a t—d, and then it is not worth a f—t.
2. (old).—A wench: see Barrack-hack and Tart.—B. E. (c.1696).
Open C, subs. phr. (venery).—The
female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
Open house, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Hospitality
for all comers.—B.
E. (c.1696).
1530. Palsgrave, 597, 1. The Kyng is determyned to kepe house or open house this Christmas.
1891. Daily Chronicle, 23 Mar. Mr. Verburgh, M.P., again played the part of host, and kept open house in a large marquee near the winning-post.
Opera buffer, subs. phr. (theatrical).—An
actor in opera bouffe.
Opera house, subs. phr. (old).—A
workhouse. [Fr. Latin opera
= work].
Operator, subs. (old).—A pick-*pocket.
O-per-se-O, subs. phr. (Old Cant).—A
Cryer.
1612. Dekker, O per se O, or a new crier of lanterne and candle-lights [Title].
O.P.H., phr. (common).—'Off':
e.g. 'Demme, I'm O.P.H.'
Oppidan, subs. (Eton College).—A
boy who boards in the town,
as distinguished from a King's
Scholar.
Opiniator, subs. (old colloquial).—See
quot.
1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Opiniator, an Assuming positive Fellow, an obstinate self-conceited Cox-comb.
Opium-joint, subs. phr. (American).—An
opium den.
Optic, subs. (once literary: now
chiefly colloquial).—1. An eye.
For synonyms see Glims.
1600. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 3. Whose optiques haue drunke the spirit of beautie.
1782. Cowper, Hope, 494. From which our nicer optics turn away.
1821. Egan, Life in London, [Dick's], 56. Those three nymphs who have so much dazzled your optics. . . .
1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Nudge, 187. I distinctly saw, either with my bodily optic, or my mind's eye, I am not quite certain which to this hour, a dark figure standing on the long-yard.
1842. Thomas Egerton Wilks, Bamboozling. I've got a pain in my optics.
1851. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xvi. She screwed her dim optics to their acutest point
1888. Daily Telegraph, 15 Nov. I've got my optic on 'em and shall have 'em by-and-by.
1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 10 Ap. A deep cut under the dexter optic.
2. (old).—An optic-glass; a spy-glass.
d.1721. Prior, Celia to Damon. When you Love's Joys through Honour's optic view.
Optime, subs. (University).—See
quot.
