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Glite Dictionary
open frame

open frame

1 7.1
A frame in which a player fails to knock down all the pins with two rolls
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : marco abierto
  • She was disappointed after scoring an open frame during her last turn.

Examples

  • In bowling, an open frame occurs when a player does not strike or spare.

  • An open frame in the tenth.

    Kingpin (1996)

  • He recorded an open frame in the final game, missing several pins.

Antonyms

strike
22 3.1

All ten pins knocked down with the first ball

spare
  • Jargon
7 5.0

In bowling, knocking down all ten pins with two rolls in a frame

Surface Forms

open frame singular
open frames plural

Morphology

open + frame

The sense combines 'open' (not closed/incomplete) with 'frame' (a period/turn), so a learner could infer it denotes a frame left incomplete. However, the precise bowling meaning (no strike or spare) is a sport-specific convention that is not fully predictable from the constituents alone, making it only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The bowling term open frame comes from the game's small unit, the frame, where a player has two tries to knock down the pins. If pins are still standing after both tries the frame is left open, so an open frame means a missed chance that lowers your score.