wide open

• wide-open (attributive, before noun)

wide open (comparative wider open or more wide open, superlative widest open or most wide open)

1. Completely open.

   The front door was wide open.

   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open.

2. (idiomatic) Having no laws or law enforcement.

   It was a wide open frontier town before the railroad came.

   • 2001, Monroe Dodd, Christmastime in Kansas City, page 85:

     One hundred thirty-eight sellers and buyers were jailed. Even efforts like that were to no avail in a wide-open town where rackets flourished […]

3. (idiomatic) Unsettled or unresolved.

   The fate of the loan sailor is still wide open.

4. (idiomatic) Vulnerable or unprotected.

   He left himself wide open to criticism.

5. (sports) Without the presence of opponents nearby.

   He was wide open and scored easily after receiving the pass.

6. (finance) Of the situation at the beginning of trading when there is a large spread between bids and asking prices.

• open wide