pipe-opener

pipe-opener

English

Noun

pipe-opener (plural pipe-openers)

1. A device for putting a hole in a pipe.
2. A device or mechanism for clearing obstructions in a pipe.
3. (sports) A practice event; a warm-up.
   • 1873, The Contemporary Review, Vol. 22,

     They will note the doings of the favourite for some particular race, scanning him keenly and critically ; they will see how he takes his pipe-opener, or if he breaks down, or if he turns lame, or is absent from exercise.

   • 1976, Caroline Silver, Lucinda Prior-Palmer, Eventing: the book of the three-day event,

     I would rather have the horse fit by the week-end preceding the three-day event and then, apart from a good sharp two-furlong pipe-opener after the dressage test before cross-country day, only do slow but interesting work, if necessary for long periods if the horse has an excitable temperament.

4. (figuratively) A brisk walk or other aerobic exercise; a constitutional.
5. (figuratively) An example that serves as an introduction.
   • 1991, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Pinney (editor), Something of myself and other autobiographical writings,

     That tale may have served as a pipe-opener, but one could not see its wood for its trees, so I threw it away.

   • 2005, Robert Hughes, Man of Steel, in Robert Dessaix (editor), The Best Australian Essays 2005,

     There is just no way to experience these pieces by looking from the outside, or in photos or on video: the initial view of them from the balcony above the Arcelor gallery is impressively dramatic, yet it's the merest pipe-opener to what unfolds close up and at floor level.