open mic

Or o·pen mike

[oh-puhn mahyk]

noun

1. a live show in a club, bar, etc., in which anyone may perform but each performer is given a time limit (often used attributively).

   an open mic night for stand-up comedians.

Word History and Origins

Origin of open mic¹

First recorded in 1975–80; open ( def. ) (in sense “in operation, live”) + mic ( def. )

Example Sentences

You do an open mic and someone says you can be on a show, and suddenly you think you’re hot s—, and every step of the way you kinda think you’re doing really well, so you’re driving around being like, “I’m on tour,” and making weird tour posters, and you’re not even looking at people who are at a different level; you’re just trying to do the most you can do at your level.

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I moved to Buffalo because my friend became paralyzed, and I moved there to be near here, and then I basically started doing open mic in front of her paralyzed body because she wasn’t allowed to run away.

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The Untold Story reopened a few weeks ago, and this was the first open mic night at the new spot.

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How did she think open mic night went?

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The crowd inside the Untold Story in Anaheim was ready for open mic night to begin last week, but there was no way it would start on time.

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