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Glite Dictionary
✍️ First sentence 💸 First betting odds
opening line

opening line

1 5.4
The first odds or point spread set by bookmakers before betting
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : línea de apertura
  • When Kansas kicks off against Iowa State on Saturday, the opening line will fall somewhere between five and seven points in favor of Iowa State.

Examples

  • Mr. Bloomberg has kicked off the negotiations with an aggressive opening line: there will be no wage increases unless the unions agree to changes in work rules or benefits that save enough money to pay for the raises.

  • By opening lines of communication, Orpett hopes to reconcile the partners in what he believes is a strained marriage worth saving.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Covers.com has the opening line for West Virginia at Texas Tech pegged at Mountaineers -4.5?

    Blog text (31)

  • When Kansas kicks off against Iowa State on Saturday, the opening line will fall somewhere between five and seven points in favor of Iowa State.

  • Covers.com has the opening line for West Virginia at Texas Tech pegged at Mountaineers -4.5.

Synonyms

betting odds
vsopening line
1 3.5

Numbers that show how likely something is and how much you win if you bet

is posted first before betting moves the market not the general payout ratio

Surface Forms

opening line singular
opening lines plural

Morphology

opening + line

Although 'opening' clearly conveys 'initial' or 'first', the sense of 'line' required for the MWE (betting odds/point spread) is a specialized, domain-specific meaning not captured by the provided ordinary sense of 'line' (a short message) and not obvious to a B1 learner. Most learners would interpret 'opening line' as the first sentence or a literal line rather than initial betting odds, so the idiomatic betting sense cannot be derived from the constituents without prior exposure.

Etymology

Opening line in sports comes from people who take bets writing the first line of odds or points for a game; this first number 'opens' the betting and is called the 'opening line' because it shows the initial odds before bets change it.