hall pass

English

Alternative forms

• hallpass, hall-pass

Etymology

From hall +‎ pass.

Noun

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.