hall pass

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From hall +‎ pass.

Noun

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hall pass (plural hall passes)

  1. (US) A permit to be out of class during school hours.
    • 2018, Erica Catherman, Jonathan Catherman, The Girls' Guide to Conquering Middle School, Revell, →ISBN:
      To freely move around the school when you should be in class requires an official hall pass. Those are guarded like government-issued official travel documents. Most teachers don't just hand them out to anybody who asks.
  2. (by extension, informal) An agreement to temporarily or conditionally relax monogamy in a relationship.
    • 2011 February 24, Manohla Dargis, “Man-Child in the Promised Land, for a Whole (Pant! Pant!) Week”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      The story kicks in when a relationship guru (Joy Behar) suggests that the wives give their husbands a week off from marriage — a hall pass — which, after not much anguish, they do.
    • 2011 March 10, Peter Bradshaw, “Hall Pass – review”, in The Guardian[2]:
      So these wives give them a "hall pass": for one week only, they get a bachelor holiday from married life, no questions asked.
    • 2018 June 1, Holly O'Mahony, “‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding”, in The Sun[3]:
      Shane explains: “I’ve got a hall pass to sleep with other women but that wasn’t the original intention.