An Opener Is a Tool, a First Item and a Cricket Position
An opener opens something. Sport, entertainment and the kitchen all use the word for the thing that comes first.
An opener is a device for opening, and also whatever comes first. Cricket makes it a formal position: the *opening batters* face the new ball, the hardest task in the innings. The tin opener has its own odd history — tinned food was patented in 1810, and the first practical opener did not appear for almost fifty years.
- A tool for opening. *A tin opener.*
- The first item. *The opener of the show.*
- A batter starting an innings. *An opening batter.*
- For openers — to begin with. *For openers, the price.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | opener | A bottle opener. |
| Plural | openers | Two openers. |
| Verb | open | Open the box. |
| Adjective | opening | The opening scene. |
| American | can opener | A can opener. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Tins came fifty years before openers.Soldiers used bayonets.
- The openers put on a hundred.Cricket.
- An eye-opener is a surprise.Something that reveals.
The tin opener gap
- 1810 — the tin can patented in Britain
- Early cans — thick iron, opened with a hammer and chisel
- Instruction — some labels advised using a chisel
- 1855 — Robert Yeates patented a practical opener
- 1870 — the rotating wheel design appeared in America
From *open*, Old English *openian*, related to *up* — the sense being to make accessible from above.
Why were tins invented before openers?
Early cans were thick wrought iron intended for military and expedition use, opened with whatever tools were available.
Tin opener or can opener?
Tin opener is British, can opener American. Britain says tin, America says can.