open sandwich
- noun
- /ˈoʊpən ˈsænwɪtʃ/
:
sándwich abierto
- At the brunch, we served an assortment of open sandwiches with various spreads and toppings.
Examples
-
For lunch, I enjoyed an open sandwich topped with fresh vegetables and cheese.
-
They begin late Tuesday afternoon with a talk, ordinarily followed by a festive reception by the host university with a welcoming greeting, accompanied by wine, beer, and fancy open sandwiches.
Academic text (2002) -
For I had decided to become a fallen woman: I started to eat my open sandwiches with a knife and fork.
Fiction book (1995) -
He prepared an open sandwich with avocado and smoked salmon for a quick snack.
Synonyms
1
2.9
A piece of bread with toppings and no top slice
How Open
800
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'open' (not closed) modifies 'sandwich' (bread with filling), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a sandwich served without a second covering slice. This form is common cross-linguistically (e.g., terms for open-faced sandwiches), so the relation is predictable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
Open sandwich comes from a simple image: a sandwich that is open, with one 'slice' of bread and the 'toppings' left on top instead of covered by a second slice. That's why it means a slice of bread served with fillings or toppings but no top slice.