English · Idiom Historical

to keep open account

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Merchants are said to keep open account when they agree to honour each other's bills of exchange.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Giữ hồ sơ thương mại mở

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “to keep open account” mean?

Merchants are said to keep open account when they agree to honour each other's bills of exchange.

Is “to keep open account” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time