open season
12
4.1
- noun
:
temporada
- In the world of competitive gaming, the new tournament is open season for anyone looking to showcase their skills.
- declare open season
- it's open season now
- open season all year long
Examples
-
It's open season on everything.
Fiction book (1995) -
It's open season on everyone else.
Blog text (24) -
Because open season starts in a few days.
-
Some people believe that whatever happens in the first third is open season.
Blog text (20) -
Once unions make concessions, it is open season.
Blog text (31) -
It seems to be open season for priests everywhere.
Blog text (32) -
And it's open season!
-
On December 28, Andy Rooney, America's lovable curmudgeon, wrote in The Columbus Dispatch that the Governor had just declared open season on Ohio husbands.
Blog text (3) -
During the summer months, it is open season for tourists in the city, with many attractions welcoming visitors.
-
With the recent law changes, it's now open season on developers who want to build in the protected area.
How Open
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a period when an activity is permitted' follows directly from combining 'open' (permitted/available) with 'season' (a period), so a learner who knows both words can infer the sense. Although the phrase has figurative extensions (e.g., 'open season on someone'), the core compositional logic is predictable and cross-linguistically familiar, making it transparent.
Etymology
The expression open season comes from hunting: when the season was open, hunters were 'allowed' to shoot certain animals. So today open season means 'a time when an activity is officially allowed', and it is often used for times when people are free to criticize or take advantage of someone.