open house

noun

a party or reception during which anyone who wishes may visit to share in a celebration, meet a special guest, etc.
a time during which a school, institution, etc., is open to the public for exhibition or for some specific occasion.
a house hospitably open to all friends who may wish to visit it.

open house

an occasion on which an institution, such as a school, is open for inspection by the public Also called (in Britain and certain other countries)open dayat-home
keep open house
to be always ready to provide hospitality
a house available for inspection by prospective buyers

First recorded in 1520–30

keep open house, to be prepared to entertain visitors at any time:
They keep open house for artists and writers.

The pressure on the Open House was not just from religious or conservative circles.

Ahead of the count, Joe Miller greeted supporters at an open house at his Anchorage headquarters.

One of our volunteers—a guy named Scott Lauer—went on to start Open House New York.

For George Sand was most hospitable, kept indeed literally open house for her friends, and did so regardless of credit and debit.

With the self-confidence of youth and ignorance, we decided to keep open house on our own account.

Moreover, Madame de Mazarin kept a good table and an open house—two means of silencing scandal that are not yet ineffective.

The people dressed in their finest garments as though it were a holiday, and kept open house.

But she could not bring herself to spread any board with plenty, and the idea of an open house would almost break her heart.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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