open-carry

verb

To visibly carry a firearm in a public space.

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Meanings

verbopen-carry (third-person singular simple present open-carries, present participle open-carrying, simple past and past participle open-carried)

present singular third person open-carries · participle present open-carrying · participle past open-carried · past open-carried

  1. intransitivetransitiveTo visibly carry a firearm in a public space.

    The police said that his gun was "plainly visible", and they seemed to imply that he was open-carrying.

    2012 July 31, Mike_Fontenot, “Re: So Much For CC Permits”, in rec.guns (Usenet)
    1 more example

    Everyone in the crowd conspicuously open carried a weapon, making sure to let everyone around them know that they were packing.

    2019 April 18, Thomas Harper, Incarnate: Essence, Thomas Harper, →ISBN, page 115
Cite this entry
APA

open-carry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/open-carry

MLA

“open-carry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/open-carry. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “open-carry,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/open-carry.

Source: open-carry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.