open spacen.
/ˌəʊp(ə)n ˈspeɪs/, U.S. /ˌoʊp(ə)n ˈspeɪs/ 1. In early use: a space little obstructed by trees, buildings, etc.; a clearing. Later also: spec. a park, garden, etc., without buildings in the midst of an urban area; esp. an area designated as such by a municipal authority, government, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town or city > part of town or city > [noun] > open space
open space1696
plainc1720
1696 M. Pix Ibrahim ii. 11 This Key Shortens your walk, and you may Meet him in the open space.
1742 H. Downman Belisarius iv. i. 285 March down the open space By yonder temple.
1799 A. Plumptre Spaniards in Peru iii. i. 37 (stage direct.) An open space in a forest.
1834 in K. Laybourn Brit. Trade Unionism (1991) 45 These banners were planted in the open space in front of Copenhagen-house, which had been hired.
1850 Househ. Words 3 Aug. 451/2 Suburban open spaces are being entombed in brick-and-mortar mausoleums.
1864 R. Siebeck (title) Picturesque garden plans, a practical guide to the laying-out, ornamentation and arrangement of villa gardens, town squares & open spaces.
1869 A. Mackenzie (title) The parks, open spaces and thoroughfares of London.
1913 C. B. Purdom Garden City viii. 112 An open space in a city has come to mean..even a disused churchyard... In the Garden City the characteristics of the open space belong to the town as a whole.
1942 Ann. Reg. 1941 286 Mr. G. E. Hatfield..bequeathed to the National Trust Marden Hall estate,..for preservation as an open space.
1943 Our Towns (Women's Group on Public Welfare) p. xvi The special town conditions of overcrowding, lack of open spaces, smoke and noise.
1996 Guardian 4 Nov. ii. 6/5 People say the open spaces [in Oxford] are a model of how open spaces ought to be. You can go for a walk on a Sunday afternoon and feel you've been in the countryside.
2. In plural. Large tracts of unpopulated or sparsely populated countryside. Chiefly in wide (also great, vast) open spaces.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > tract > [noun] > common or unenclosed
common1377
moor1386
common land1470
champestrea1492
common field1523
champaign1555
commons1583
champian1611
commonity1612
public domain1627
commonage1635
commoninga1661
range1707–8
open1733
common area1837
mark1849
veld1852
outdoors1859
wide (also great, vast) open spaces1910
1885 A. J. C. Hare Stud. Russia ii. 76 Endless are the open spaces..almost populationless.
1910 H. G. Wells New Machiavelli (1911) i. iv. 131 I recall as if I had been there the wide open spaces, the ragged hillsides [of South Africa].
1924 P. G. Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith viii. 138 You will find me somewhere out there in the great open spaces where men are men.
1944 F. Clune Red Heart 35 The desert is an open book to the man of the Vast Open Spaces, but to the schoolmaster it was a closed book.
1975 Times 8 Feb. 10/4 If you seek clean fresh air and the wide open spaces (cliche though it is, that phrase is exactly right), this is the place.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1696