open watern.adj.
/ˌəʊp(ə)n ˈwɔːtə/, U.S. /ˌoʊp(ə)n ˈwɔdər/, /ˌoʊp(ə)n ˈwɑdər/ (in sense B. also)Brit. /ˈəʊp(ə)n ˌwɔːtə/, U.S. /ˈoʊp(ə)n ˌwɔdər/, /ˈoʊp(ə)n ˌwɑdər/ A. n.
1. The melting of ice on rivers and lakes in spring; the time when this happens. Now Canadian.
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the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > spring
LenteneOE
LentlOE
warea1300
verec1325
vera1382
vere-time1382
springing timea1387
springinga1398
springa1400
prime tempsa1425
the spring of the year1481
grass1485
springtime1495
prime time1503
sap-time?1523
spring tide1530
(the) spring of the leaf1538
prime1541
prime tide1549
voar1629
vernal season1644
vernal1654
outcome1672
Lent term1691
blossom-time1713
open water1759
rabi1783
budding-timea1807
ware-time1820
growing season1845
1759 Let. 9 Jan. in Sc. Hist. Soc. (1996) 9 105 We shall be under a necessity of having two cargoes of flax ready to be shipped first open water from your river [sc. at Riga].
1836 G. Simpson Let. 2 July in T. Simpson Narr. Discov. North Coast Amer. 1836–9 (1843) 5 Should you not be able to accomplish the voyage or journey during the season of open water, and that you fall in with friendly Esquimaux, [etc.].
1885 J. Horden Let. in D. Batty Forty-two Years amongst Indians & Eskimo (1893) 144 We shall not be able to get our boards home until open water.
1922 Beaver Jan. 33/1 We remained at Mountain House until open water in the spring.
1930 L. Munday Mounty's Wife iii. 50 We had to keep him at Cumberland until he could be taken to Prince Albert at open water.
1971 T. Boulanger Indian Remembers 4 The people came home after open water at Oxford House.
1992 Up Here (Yellowknife, N.W. Territories) Dec. (Insert between pp. 24–25) (advt.) Migrating bald eagles, geese, ducks, and swans attracted by the first open water around the islands on Great Slave Lake.
2. Unconfined water; esp. an area of sea free from ice. Cf. open adj. 8c.
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the world > the earth > water > [noun]
watereOE
streamc950
floodOE
water floodc1175
wave1590
open water1790
1790 E. Umfreville Present State of Hudson's Bay 24 Paraselenes or mock moons appear, when the vapours arising from open water become condensed by the frost.
1849 J. F. Cooper Sea Lions xii. 165 The party might leave..by dragging the boats on sledges across the ice to the open water.
1882 Cent. Mag. July 335/1 We..carried our canoe over the floes and among the icebergs, to the extreme limit of so-called open water in that direction.
1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 151/1 It is used as an ice boat, particularly on Great South Bay, Long Island. It is capable of crossing patches of open water.
1998 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 67 737/2 Some Inner Bay colonies remain ice-locked for several years, whereas open water was present during the pupping season at Tent..in 1987 and 1988.
B. adj.
Originally U.S. Also in form open-water. Designating or relating to a sport or recreation (originally swimming) performed on or in unsheltered, often rough, water such as the sea or a large lake.
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1887 N.Y. Times 19 Jan. 4/5 On New Year's Day a double score of Eastern visitors had a splendid open water surf at Santa Cruz.
1906 F. Zauner Swimming & its Dangers 37 He set up an almost entire set of new open-water records from 350 yards to one mile.
1978 N.Y. Times 6 Aug. iv. e18/1 An attempt to set a record for the longest open-water free swim ever.
1993 Canoeist Dec. 49/2 Open water paddling is different from simple flat water paddling on canals, small lakes or grade one rivers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1759