DCHP-1 Online
open ((adj.)) 
1 adj. Fur Trade of skins, removed by slitting along the underside and down each leg so as to be cured by stretching flat.
See also: cased split (def. 1)
- c1948 Two methods of skinning, the "open" and the "cased," are practised for all fur-bearing animals. Badger, beaver and bear are skinned "open," and all other animals, generally speaking, are skinned "cased.
- 1783 (1918) Exports [included] . . . Cassed Catts 5536, Open Catts, 4197. . . Tygers 26 . . . Castoreum 1106 lb.
- 1864 Opossum were only saleable at very low rates say . . . open good 6 to 9d. . . .
2 adj. of land, available to homesteaders, or for leasing; not yet legally taken up by settlers.
See also: homesteader
- 1922 "But immedjut north-west, cornerin' right against this quarter, 'cept for the road allowance, is the south-east quarter of Twenty-two, which is open."
- 1954 When haying season came around I was really up against it. By that time the only open lands left for haying were a good four or five miles from the ranch.
- c1948 Two methods of skinning, the "open" and the "cased," are practised for all fur-bearing animals. Badger, beaver and bear are skinned "open," and all other animals, generally speaking, are skinned "cased.