present opening
- noun
- The children were excited for present opening on Christmas morning.
Examples
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After dinner, the family gathered in the living room for present opening.
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Photographs captured the joy of the present opening at her birthday party.
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Let's start the present opening!
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The present opening is finally here!
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The children were excited for present opening on Christmas morning.
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After dinner, the family gathered in the living room for present opening.
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Photographs captured the joy of the present opening at her birthday party.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the activity of unwrapping gifts' is directly compositional from 'present' (a gift) + 'opening' (the act of opening), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the activity. This construction is cross-linguistically transparent (e.g. 'abrir regalos', 'ouvrir des cadeaux'), and although English more commonly uses 'opening presents', the semantic relation remains immediately clear.
Etymology
Present opening comes from the clear picture of someone tearing wrapping paper from a present and doing the opening to see the surprise inside. So it means 'the activity of unwrapping gifts', usually at parties or special times.