Definition of "open house"

He keeps a kind of open house for all the respectable young men of the town who are staying in lodgings.

1839, Samuel Butler, The Hand-Book for Australian Emigrants: Being a Descriptive History of Australia, page 67

The founding secretary and treasurer are a well-known gay couple retired to the arid Mal[l]ee (a kind of small eucalypt tree) country near Swan Reach, about an hour and a half drive from Adelaide, where they keep virtually open house for gay men.

1997, Les K. Wright, The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture, page 227

Over the year, we had been invited to many people′s homes, enjoying good food and warm hospitality. It had not been possible for us to reciprocate in every case, so we decided to invite everyone to an open house ‘barbie’-cum-buffet in order to say a mass farewell.

2006, Geoff Porter, Little Bites of Australia, page 265

Visitors to the Wests′ weekend open houses would often include Gore Vidal, David Niven, Vatican power brokers, ex-Queen Frederica of Greece and members of various superrich families, including the Vanderbilts, Guggenheims and von Furstenbergs.

2011, Kate Askew, Dot. Bomb Australia: How We Wrangled, Conned and Argie-Bargied Our Way into the New Digital Universe, page 44

I took my sign out of the boot and put it up that morning, then arranged the advertising and open house viewings as soon as I returned to my office.

2009, Peter Yong Huang, The Australian Dream and $1 Properties, page 133

Avoid boredom. Avoid starvation. Why hang around a homeowner′s refrigerator all day while sitting at a deadbeat open house? Do what they have done in Australia for years. Hold multiple open houses in one day.

2011, Danielle Kennedy, Warren Jamison, How to List and Sell Real Estate, 4th edition, page 155