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4 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 :   [ gcide ]

  Free \Free\ (fr[=e]), a. [Compar. Freer (-[~e]r); superl.
     Freest (-[e^]st).] [OE. fre, freo, AS. fre['o], fr[=i];
     akin to D. vrij, OS. & OHG. fr[=i], G. frei, Icel. fr[=i],
     Sw. & Dan. fri, Goth. freis, and also to Skr. prija beloved,
     dear, fr. pr[=i] to love, Goth. frij[=o]n. Cf. Affray,
     Belfry, Friday, Friend, Frith inclosure.]
     1. Exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under
        restraint, control, or compulsion; able to follow one's
        own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's
        own course of action; not dependent; at liberty.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That which has the power, or not the power, to
              operate, is that alone which is or is not free.
                                                    --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Not under an arbitrary or despotic government; subject
        only to fixed laws regularly and fairly administered, and
        defended by them from encroachments upon natural or
        acquired rights; enjoying political liberty.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control
        of parents, guardian, or master.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Not confined or imprisoned; released from arrest;
        liberated; at liberty to go.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Set an unhappy prisoner free.         --Prior.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. Not subjected to the laws of physical necessity; capable
        of voluntary activity; endowed with moral liberty; -- said
        of the will.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
              Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved;
        ingenuous; frank; familiar; communicative.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He was free only with a few.          --Milward.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     8. Unrestrained; immoderate; lavish; licentious; -- used in a
        bad sense.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The critics have been very free in their censures.
                                                    --Felton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A man may live a free life as to wine or women.
                                                    --Shelley.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     9. Not close or parsimonious; liberal; open-handed; lavish;
        as, free with his money.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     10. Exempt; clear; released; liberated; not encumbered or
         troubled with; as, free from pain; free from a burden; --
         followed by from, or, rarely, by of.
         [1913 Webster]
  
               Princes declaring themselves free from the
               obligations of their treaties.       --Bp. Burnet.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     11. Characteristic of one acting without restraint; charming;
         easy.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     12. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping;
         spirited; as, a free horse.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     13. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying
         certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special
         rights; -- followed by of.
         [1913 Webster]
  
               He therefore makes all birds, of every sect,
               Free of his farm.                    --Dryden.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     14. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed
         without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed,
         engrossed, or appropriated; open; -- said of a thing to
         be possessed or enjoyed; as, a free school.
         [1913 Webster]
  
               Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
               For me as for you?                   --Shak.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     15. Not gained by importunity or purchase; gratuitous;
         spontaneous; as, free admission; a free gift.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     16. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending
         individual rights against encroachment by any person or
         class; instituted by a free people; -- said of a
         government, institutions, etc.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     17. (O. Eng. Law) Certain or honorable; the opposite of
         base; as, free service; free socage. --Burrill.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     18. (Law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common;
         as, a free fishery; a free warren. --Burrill.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     19. Not united or combined with anything else; separated;
         dissevered; unattached; at liberty to escape; as, free
         carbonic acid gas; free cells.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     Free agency, the capacity or power of choosing or acting
        freely, or without necessity or constraint upon the will.
        
  
     Free bench (Eng. Law), a widow's right in the copyhold
        lands of her husband, corresponding to dower in freeholds.
        
  
     Free board (Naut.), a vessel's side between water line and
        gunwale.
  
     Free bond (Chem.), an unsaturated or unemployed unit, or
        bond, of affinity or valence, of an atom or radical.
  
     Free-borough men (O.Eng. Law). See Friborg.
  
     Free chapel (Eccles.), a chapel not subject to the
        jurisdiction of the ordinary, having been founded by the
        king or by a subject specially authorized. [Eng.]
        --Bouvier.
  
     Free charge (Elec.), a charge of electricity in the free or
        statical condition; free electricity.
  
     Free church.
         (a) A church whose sittings are for all and without
             charge.
         (b) An ecclesiastical body that left the Church of
             Scotland, in 1843, to be free from control by the
             government in spiritual matters.
  
     Free city, or Free town, a city or town independent in
        its government and franchises, as formerly those of the
        Hanseatic league.
  
     Free cost, freedom from charges or expenses. --South.
  
     Free and easy, unconventional; unrestrained; regardless of
        formalities. [Colloq.] ``Sal and her free and easy ways.''
        --W. Black.
  
     Free goods, goods admitted into a country free of duty.
  
     Free labor, the labor of freemen, as distinguished from
        that of slaves.
  
     Free port. (Com.)
         (a) A port where goods may be received and shipped free
             of custom duty.
         (b) A port where goods of all kinds are received from
             ships of all nations at equal rates of duty.
  
     Free public house, in England, a tavern not belonging to a
        brewer, so that the landlord is free to brew his own beer
        or purchase where he chooses. --Simmonds.
  
     Free school.
         (a) A school to which pupils are admitted without
             discrimination and on an equal footing.
         (b) A school supported by general taxation, by
             endowmants, etc., where pupils pay nothing for
             tuition; a public school.
  
     Free services (O.Eng. Law), such feudal services as were
        not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to
        perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum
        of money, etc. --Burrill.
  
     Free ships, ships of neutral nations, which in time of war
        are free from capture even though carrying enemy's goods.
        
  
     Free socage (O.Eng. Law), a feudal tenure held by certain
        services which, though honorable, were not military.
        --Abbott.
  
     Free States, those of the United States before the Civil
        War, in which slavery had ceased to exist, or had never
        existed.
  
     Free stuff (Carp.), timber free from knots; clear stuff.
  
     Free thought, that which is thought independently of the
        authority of others.
  
     Free trade, commerce unrestricted by duties or tariff
        regulations.
  
     Free trader, one who believes in free trade.
  
     To make free with, to take liberties with; to help one's
        self to. [Colloq.]
  
     To sail free (Naut.), to sail with the yards not braced in
        as sharp as when sailing closehauled, or close to the
        wind.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 :   [ gcide ]

  make \make\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. made (m[=a]d); p. pr. & vb.
     n. making.] [OE. maken, makien, AS. macian; akin to OS.
     mak?n, OFries. makia, D. maken, G. machen, OHG. mahh?n to
     join, fit, prepare, make, Dan. mage. Cf. Match an equal.]
     1. To cause to exist; to bring into being; to form; to
        produce; to frame; to fashion; to create. Hence, in
        various specific uses or applications:
        (a) To form of materials; to cause to exist in a certain
            form; to construct; to fabricate.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  He . . . fashioned it with a graving tool, after
                  he had made it a molten calf.     --Ex. xxxii.
                                                    4.
            [1913 Webster]
        (b) To produce, as something artificial, unnatural, or
            false; -- often with up; as, to make up a story.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  And Art, with her contending, doth aspire
                  To excel the natural with made delights.
                                                    --Spenser.
            [1913 Webster]
        (c) To bring about; to bring forward; to be the cause or
            agent of; to effect, do, perform, or execute; -- often
            used with a noun to form a phrase equivalent to the
            simple verb that corresponds to such noun; as, to make
            complaint, for to complain; to make record of, for to
            record; to make abode, for to abide, etc.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.
                                                    --Judg. xvi.
                                                    25.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Wealth maketh many friends.       --Prov. xix.
                                                    4.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  I will neither plead my age nor sickness in
                  excuse of the faults which I have made.
                                                    --Dryden.
            [1913 Webster]
        (d) To execute with the requisite formalities; as, to make
            a bill, note, will, deed, etc.
        (e) To gain, as the result of one's efforts; to get, as
            profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue or
            happen to one; as, to make a large profit; to make an
            error; to make a loss; to make money.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  He accuseth Neptune unjustly who makes shipwreck
                  a second time.                    --Bacon.
            [1913 Webster]
        (f) To find, as the result of calculation or computation;
            to ascertain by enumeration; to find the number or
            amount of, by reckoning, weighing, measurement, and
            the like; as, he made the distance of; to travel over;
            as, the ship makes ten knots an hour; he made the
            distance in one day.
        (h) To put in a desired or desirable condition; to cause
            to thrive.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown.
                                                    --Dryden.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To cause to be or become; to put into a given state verb,
        or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make
        public; to make fast.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? --Ex.
                                                    ii. 14.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh. --Ex. vii.
                                                    1.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: When used reflexively with an adjective, the reflexive
           pronoun is often omitted; as, to make merry; to make
           bold; to make free, etc.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To cause to appear to be; to constitute subjectively; to
        esteem, suppose, or represent.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He is not that goose and ass that Valla would make
              him.                                  --Baker.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause;
        to occasion; -- followed by a noun or pronoun and
        infinitive.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In the active voice the to of the infinitive is usually
           omitted.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 I will make them hear my words.    --Deut. iv.
                                                    10.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 They should be made to rise at their early hour.
                                                    --Locke.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     5. To become; to be, or to be capable of being, changed or
        fashioned into; to do the part or office of; to furnish
        the material for; as, he will make a good musician; sweet
        cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And old cloak makes a new jerkin.     --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. To compose, as parts, ingredients, or materials; to
        constitute; to form; to amount to; as, a pound of ham
        makes a hearty meal.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea,
              Make but one temple for the Deity.    --Waller.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. To be engaged or concerned in. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole
              brotherhood of city bailiffs?         --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     8. To reach; to attain; to arrive at or in sight of. ``And
        make the Libyan shores.'' --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They that sail in the middle can make no land of
              either side.                          --Sir T.
                                                    Browne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     To make a bed, to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to
        put it in order.
  
     To make a card (Card Playing), to take a trick with it.
  
     To make account. See under Account, n.
  
     To make account of, to esteem; to regard.
  
     To make away.
        (a) To put out of the way; to kill; to destroy. [Obs.]
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  If a child were crooked or deformed in body or
                  mind, they made him away.         --Burton.
            [1913 Webster]
        (b) To alienate; to transfer; to make over. [Obs.]
            --Waller.
  
     To make believe, to pretend; to feign; to simulate.
  
     To make bold, to take the liberty; to venture.
  
     To make the cards (Card Playing), to shuffle the pack.
  
     To make choice of, to take by way of preference; to choose.
        
  
     To make danger, to make experiment. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.
  
     To make default (Law), to fail to appear or answer.
  
     To make the doors, to shut the door. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out
              at the casement.                      --Shak.
        [1913 Webster] 
  
     To make free with. See under Free, a.
  
     To make good. See under Good.
  
     To make head, to make headway.
  
     To make light of. See under Light, a.
  
     To make little of.
        (a) To belittle.
        (b) To accomplish easily.
  
     To make love to. See under Love, n.
  
     To make meat, to cure meat in the open air. [Colloq.
        Western U. S.]
  
     To make merry, to feast; to be joyful or jovial.
  
     To make much of, to treat with much consideration,,
        attention, or fondness; to value highly.
  
     To make no bones. See under Bone, n.
  
     To make no difference, to have no weight or influence; to
        be a matter of indifference.
  
     To make no doubt, to have no doubt.
  
     To make no matter, to have no weight or importance; to make
        no difference.
  
     To make oath (Law), to swear, as to the truth of something,
        in a prescribed form of law.
  
     To make of.
        (a) To understand or think concerning; as, not to know
            what to make of the news.
        (b) To pay attention to; to cherish; to esteem; to
            account. ``Makes she no more of me than of a slave.''
            --Dryden.
  
     To make one's law (Old Law), to adduce proof to clear one's
        self of a charge.
  
     To make out.
        (a) To find out; to discover; to decipher; as, to make out
            the meaning of a letter.
        (b) to gain sight of; to recognize; to discern; to descry;
            as, as they approached the city, he could make out the
            tower of the Chrysler Building.
        (c) To prove; to establish; as, the plaintiff was unable
            to make out his case.
        (d) To make complete or exact; as, he was not able to make
            out the money.
        (d) to write out; to write down; -- used especially of a
            bank check or bill; as, he made out a check for the
            cost of the dinner; the workman made out a bill and
            handed it to him.
  
     To make over, to transfer the title of; to convey; to
        alienate; as, he made over his estate in trust or in fee.
        
  
     To make sail. (Naut.)
        (a) To increase the quantity of sail already extended.
        (b) To set sail.
  
     To make shift, to manage by expedients; as, they made shift
        to do without it. [Colloq.].
  
     To make sternway, to move with the stern foremost; to go or
        drift backward.
  
     To make strange, to act in an unfriendly manner or as if
        surprised; to treat as strange; as, to make strange of a
        request or suggestion.
  
     To make suit to, to endeavor to gain the favor of; to
        court.
  
     To make sure. See under Sure.
  
     To make up.
        (a) To collect into a sum or mass; as, to make up the
            amount of rent; to make up a bundle or package.
        (b) To reconcile; to compose; as, to make up a difference
            or quarrel.
        (c) To supply what is wanting in; to complete; as, a
            dollar is wanted to make up the stipulated sum.
        (d) To compose, as from ingredients or parts; to shape,
            prepare, or fabricate; as, to make up a mass into
            pills; to make up a story.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  He was all made up of love and charms!
                                                    --Addison.
            [1913 Webster]
        (e) To compensate; to make good; as, to make up a loss.
        (f) To adjust, or to arrange for settlement; as, to make
            up accounts.
        (g) To dress and paint for a part, as an actor; as, he was
            well made up.
  
     To make up a face, to distort the face as an expression of
        pain or derision.
  
     To make up one's mind, to reach a mental determination; to
        resolve.
  
     To make way, or To make one's way.
        (a) To make progress; to advance.
        (b) To open a passage; to clear the way.
  
     To make words, to multiply words.
        [1913 Webster]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :   [ web1913 ]

  Make \Make\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Made; p. pr. & vb. n.
     Making.] [OE. maken, makien, AS. macian; akin to OS. mak?n,
     OFries. makia, D. maken, G. machen, OHG. mahh?n to join, fit,
     prepare, make, Dan. mage. Cf. Match an equal.]
     1. To cause to exist; to bring into being; to form; to
        produce; to frame; to fashion; to create. Hence, in
        various specific uses or applications:
        (a) To form of materials; to cause to exist in a certain
            form; to construct; to fabricate.
  
                  He . . . fashioned it with a graving tool, after
                  he had made it a molten calf.     --Ex. xxxii.
                                                    4.
        (b) To produce, as something artificial, unnatural, or
            false; -- often with up; as, to make up a story.
  
                  And Art, with her contending, doth aspire To
                  excel the natural with made delights. --Spenser.
        (c) To bring about; to bring forward; to be the cause or
            agent of; to effect, do, perform, or execute; -- often
            used with a noun to form a phrase equivalent to the
            simple verb that corresponds to such noun; as, to make
            complaint, for to complain; to make record of, for to
            record; to make abode, for to abide, etc.
  
                  Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.
                                                    --Judg. xvi.
                                                    25.
  
                  Wealth maketh many friends.       --Prov. xix.
                                                    4.
  
                  I will neither plead my age nor sickness in
                  excuse of the faults which I have made.
                                                    --Dryden.
        (d) To execute with the requisite formalities; as, to make
            a bill, note, will, deed, etc.
        (e) To gain, as the result of one's efforts; to get, as
            profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue or
            happen to one; as, to make a large profit; to make an
            error; to make a loss; to make money.
  
                  He accuseth Neptune unjustly who makes shipwreck
                  a second time.                    --Bacon.
        (f) To find, as the result of calculation or computation;
            to ascertain by enumeration; to find the number or
            amount of, by reckoning, weighing, measurement, and
            the like; as, he made the distance of; to travel over;
            as, the ship makes ten knots an hour; he made the
            distance in one day.
        (h) To put a desired or desirable condition; to cause to
            thrive.
  
                  Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown.
                                                    --Dryden.
  
     2. To cause to be or become; to put into a given state verb,
        or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make
        public; to make fast.
  
              Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? --Ex.
                                                    ii. 14.
  
              See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh. --Ex. vii.
                                                    1.
  
     Note: When used reflexively with an adjective, the reflexive
           pronoun is often omitted; as, to make merry; to make
           bold; to make free, etc.
  
     3. To cause to appear to be; to constitute subjectively; to
        esteem, suppose, or represent.
  
              He is not that goose and ass that Valla would make
              him.                                  --Baker.
  
     4. To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause;
        to occasion; -- followed by a noun or pronoun and
        infinitive.
  
     Note: In the active voice the to of the infinitive is usually
           omitted.
  
                 I will make them hear my words.    --Deut. iv.
                                                    10.
  
                 They should be made to rise at their early hour.
                                                    --Locke.
  
     5. To become; to be, or to be capable of being, changed or
        fashioned into; to do the part or office of; to furnish
        the material for; as, he will make a good musician; sweet
        cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing.
  
              And old cloak makes a new jerkin.     --Shak.
  
     6. To compose, as parts, ingredients, or materials; to
        constitute; to form; to amount to.
  
              The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea,
              Make but one temple for the Deity.    --Waller.
  
     7. To be engaged or concerned in. [Obs.]
  
              Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole
              brotherhood of city bailiffs?         --Dryden.
  
     8. To reach; to attain; to arrive at or in sight of. ``And
        make the Libyan shores.'' --Dryden.
  
              They that sail in the middle can make no land of
              either side.                          --Sir T.
                                                    Browne.
  
     To make a bed, to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to
        put it in order.
  
     To make a card (Card Playing), to take a trick with it.
  
     To make account. See under Account, n.
  
     To make account of, to esteem; to regard.
  
     To make away.
        (a) To put out of the way; to kill; to destroy. [Obs.]
  
                  If a child were crooked or deformed in body or
                  mind, they made him away.         --Burton.
        (b) To alienate; to transfer; to make over. [Obs.]
            --Waller.
  
     To make believe, to pretend; to feign; to simulate.
  
     To make bold, to take the liberty; to venture.
  
     To make the cards (Card Playing), to shuffle the pack.
  
     To make choice of, to take by way of preference; to choose.
        
  
     To make danger, to make experiment. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.
  
     To make default (Law), to fail to appear or answer.
  
     To make the doors, to shut the door. [Obs.]
  
              Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out
              at the casement.                      --Shak.
        
  
     To make free with. See under Free, a.
  
     To make good. See under Good.
  
     To make head, to make headway.
  
     To make light of. See under Light, a.
  
     To make little of.
        (a) To belittle.
        (b) To accomplish easily.
  
     To make love to. See under Love, n.
  
     To make meat, to cure meat in the open air. [Colloq.
        Western U. S.]
  
     To make merry, to feast; to be joyful or jovial.
  
     To make much of, to treat with much consideration,,
        attention, or fondness; to value highly.
  
     To make no bones. See under Bone, n.
  
     To make no difference, to have no weight or influence; to
        be a matter of indifference.
  
     To make no doubt, to have no doubt.
  
     To make no matter, to have no weight or importance; to make
        no difference.
  
     To make oath (Law), to swear, as to the truth of something,
        in a prescribed form of law.
  
     To make of.
        (a) To understand or think concerning; as, not to know
            what to make of the news.
        (b) To pay attention to; to cherish; to esteem; to
            account. ``Makes she no more of me than of a slave.''
            --Dryden.
  
     To make one's law (Old Law), to adduce proof to clear one's
        self of a charge.
  
     To make out.
        (a) To find out; to discover; to decipher; as, to make out
            the meaning of a letter.
        (b) To prove; to establish; as, the plaintiff was unable
            to make out his case.
        (c) To make complete or exact; as, he was not able to make
            out the money.
  
     To make over, to transfer the title of; to convey; to
        alienate; as, he made over his estate in trust or in fee.
        
  
     To make sail. (Naut.)
        (a) To increase the quantity of sail already extended.
        (b) To set sail.
  
     To make shift, to manage by expedients; as, they made shift
        to do without it. [Colloq.].
  
     To make sternway, to move with the stern foremost; to go or
        drift backward.
  
     To make strange, to act in an unfriendly manner or as if
        surprised; to treat as strange; as, to make strange of a
        request or suggestion.
  
     To make suit to, to endeavor to gain the favor of; to
        court.
  
     To make sure. See under Sure.
  
     To make up.
        (a) To collect into a sum or mass; as, to make up the
            amount of rent; to make up a bundle or package.
        (b) To reconcile; to compose; as, to make up a difference
            or quarrel.
        (c) To supply what is wanting in; to complete; as, a
            dollar is wanted to make up the stipulated sum.
        (d) To compose, as from ingredients or parts; to shape,
            prepare, or fabricate; as, to make up a mass into
            pills; to make up a story.
  
                  He was all made up of love and charms!
                                                    --Addison.
        (e) To compensate; to make good; as, to make up a loss.
        (f) To adjust, or to arrange for settlement; as, to make
            up accounts.
        (g) To dress and paint for a part, as an actor; as, he was
            well made up.
  
     To make up a face, to distort the face as an expression of
        pain or derision.
  
     To make up one's mind, to reach a mental determination; to
        resolve.
  
     To make water.
        (a) (Naut.) To leak.
        (b) To urinate.
  
     To make way, or To make one's way.
        (a) To make progress; to advance.
        (b) To open a passage; to clear the way.
  
     To make words, to multiply words.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :   [ web1913 ]

  Free \Free\ (fr[=e]), a. [Compar. Freer (-[~e]r); superl.
     Freest (-[e^]st).] [OE. fre, freo, AS. fre['o], fr[=i];
     akin to D. vrij, OS. & OHG. fr[=i], G. frei, Icel. fr[=i],
     Sw. & Dan. fri, Goth. freis, and also to Skr. prija beloved,
     dear, fr. pr[=i] to love, Goth. frij[=o]n. Cf. Affray,
     Belfry, Friday, Friend, Frith inclosure.]
     1. Exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under
        restraint, control, or compulsion; able to follow one's
        own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's
        own course of action; not dependent; at liberty.
  
              That which has the power, or not the power, to
              operate, is that alone which is or is not free.
                                                    --Locke.
  
     2. Not under an arbitrary or despotic government; subject
        only to fixed laws regularly and fairly administered, and
        defended by them from encroachments upon natural or
        acquired rights; enjoying political liberty.
  
     3. Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control
        of parents, guardian, or master.
  
     4. Not confined or imprisoned; released from arrest;
        liberated; at liberty to go.
  
              Set an unhappy prisoner free.         --Prior.
  
     5. Not subjected to the laws of physical necessity; capable
        of voluntary activity; endowed with moral liberty; -- said
        of the will.
  
              Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
              Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love.
                                                    --Milton.
  
     6. Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent.
  
              My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. --Dryden.
  
     7. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved;
        ingenuous; frank; familiar; communicative.
  
              He was free only with a few.          --Milward.
  
     8. Unrestrained; immoderate; lavish; licentious; -- used in a
        bad sense.
  
              The critics have been very free in their censures.
                                                    --Felton.
  
              A man may live a free life as to wine or women.
                                                    --Shelley.
  
     9. Not close or parsimonious; liberal; open-handed; lavish;
        as, free with his money.
  
     10. Exempt; clear; released; liberated; not encumbered or
         troubled with; as, free from pain; free from a burden; --
         followed by from, or, rarely, by of.
  
               Princes declaring themselves free from the
               obligations of their treaties.       --Bp. Burnet.
  
     11. Characteristic of one acting without restraint; charming;
         easy.
  
     12. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping;
         spirited; as, a free horse.
  
     13. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying
         certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special
         rights; -- followed by of.
  
               He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, Free
               of his farm.                         --Dryden.
  
     14. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed
         without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed,
         engrossed, or appropriated; open; -- said of a thing to
         be possessed or enjoyed; as, a free school.
  
               Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free For
               me as for you?                       --Shak.
  
     15. Not gained by importunity or purchase; gratuitous;
         spontaneous; as, free admission; a free gift.
  
     16. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending
         individual rights against encroachment by any person or
         class; instituted by a free people; -- said of a
         government, institutions, etc.
  
     17. (O. Eng. Law) Certain or honorable; the opposite of base;
         as, free service; free socage. --Burrill.
  
     18. (Law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common;
         as, a free fishery; a free warren. --Burrill.
  
     19. Not united or combined with anything else; separated;
         dissevered; unattached; at liberty to escape; as, free
         carbonic acid gas; free cells.
  
     Free agency, the capacity or power of choosing or acting
        freely, or without necessity or constraint upon the will.
        
  
     Free bench (Eng. Law), a widow's right in the copyhold
        lands of her husband, corresponding to dower in freeholds.
        
  
     Free board (Naut.), a vessel's side between water line and
        gunwale.
  
     Free bond (Chem.), an unsaturated or unemployed unit, or
        bond, of affinity or valence, of an atom or radical.
  
     Free-borough men (O.Eng. Law). See Friborg.
  
     Free chapel (Eccles.), a chapel not subject to the
        jurisdiction of the ordinary, having been founded by the
        king or by a subject specially authorized. [Eng.]
        --Bouvier.
  
     Free charge (Elec.), a charge of electricity in the free or
        statical condition; free electricity.
  
     Free church.
         (a) A church whose sittings are for all and without
             charge.
         (b) An ecclesiastical body that left the Church of
             Scotland, in 1843, to be free from control by the
             government in spiritual matters.
  
     Free city, or Free town, a city or town independent in
        its government and franchises, as formerly those of the
        Hanseatic league.
  
     Free cost, freedom from charges or expenses. --South.
  
     Free and easy, unconventional; unrestrained; regardless of
        formalities. [Colloq.] ``Sal and her free and easy ways.''
        --W. Black.
  
     Free goods, goods admitted into a country free of duty.
  
     Free labor, the labor of freemen, as distinguished from
        that of slaves.
  
     Free port. (Com.)
         (a) A port where goods may be received and shipped free
             of custom duty.
         (b) A port where goods of all kinds are received from
             ships of all nations at equal rates of duty.
  
     Free public house, in England, a tavern not belonging to a
        brewer, so that the landlord is free to brew his own beer
        or purchase where he chooses. --Simmonds.
  
     Free school.
         (a) A school to which pupils are admitted without
             discrimination and on an equal footing.
         (b) A school supported by general taxation, by
             endowmants, etc., where pupils pay nothing for
             tuition; a public school.
  
     Free services (O.Eng. Law), such feudal services as were
        not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to
        perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum
        of money, etc. --Burrill.
  
     Free ships, ships of neutral nations, which in time of war
        are free from capture even though carrying enemy's goods.
        
  
     Free socage (O.Eng. Law), a feudal tenure held by certain
        services which, though honorable, were not military.
        --Abbott.
  
     Free States, those of the United States before the Civil
        War, in which slavery had ceased to exist, or had never
        existed.
  
     Free stuff (Carp.), timber free from knots; clear stuff.
  
     Free thought, that which is thought independently of the
        authority of others.
  
     Free trade, commerce unrestricted by duties or tariff
        regulations.
  
     Free trader, one who believes in free trade.
  
     To make free with, to take liberties with; to help one's
        self to. [Colloq.]
  
     To sail free (Naut.), to sail with the yards not braced in
        as sharp as when sailing closehauled, or close to the
        wind.

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