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free |
5 definitions found 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Free \Free\, adv 1. Freely; willingly. [Obs.] I as free forgive you As I would be forgiven. --Shak. 2. Without charge; as children admitted free From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Free \Free\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Freed}; p. pr & vb n. {Freeing}.] [OE. freen, freoien AS fre['o]gan. See {Free}, a.] 1. To make free to set at liberty; to rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, oppresses, etc.; to release; to disengage; to clear; -- followed by from and sometimes by off as to free a captive or a slave; to be freed of these inconveniences. --Clarendon. Our land is from the rage of tigers freed. --Dryden. Arise, . . . free thy people from their yoke. --Milton. 2. To remove, as something that confines or bars; to relieve from the constraint of This master key Frees every lock, and leads us to his person. --Dryden. 3. To frank. [Obs.] --Johnson. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: free adj 1: able to act at will not hampered; not under compulsion or restraint; "free enterprise"; "a free port"; "a free country"; "I have an hour free"; "free will"; "free of racism"; "feel free to stay as long as you wish" [ant: {unfree}] 2: (chemistry and physics) unconstrained or not chemically bound in a molecule or not fixed and capable of relatively unrestricted motion; "free expansion"; "free oxygen"; "a free electron" [ant: {bound}] 3: costing nothing; "complimentary tickets" [syn: {complimentary}, {costless}, {gratis(p)}, {gratuitous}] 4: not occupied or in use "a free locker" 5: done by hand without mechanical aids or devices; "a freehand drawing" [syn: {freehand}, {freehanded}] 6: affording free passage or view; "a clear view"; "a clear path to victory"; "a free lane" [syn: {clear}, {open}] 7: of your own accord; "a free act of the will"; "free choice" 8: not fixed in position; "the detached shutter fell on him"; "he pulled his arm free and ran" [syn: {detached}] 9: not held in servitude; "after the Civil War he was a free man" [ant: {slave(a)}] 10: not taken up by scheduled activities; "a free hour between classes"; "spare time on my hands" [syn: {spare}] 11: not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem" [syn: {loose}, {liberal}] 12: not bound by shackles and chains [syn: {unchained}, {unfettered}, {unshackled}, {untied}] n : people who are free "the home of the free and the brave" [syn: {free people}] adv : without restraint; "cows in India are running loose" [syn: {loose}] v 1: grant freedom to free from confinement [syn: {liberate}, {release}, {unloose}, {loose}] [ant: {confine}] 2: relieve from "Rid the the house of pests" [syn: {rid}, {disembarrass}] 3: remove or force out from a position; "The dentist dislodged the piece of food that had been stuck under my gums"; "He finally could free the legs of the earthquake victim who was buried in the rubble" [syn: {dislodge}] [ant: {lodge}] 4: grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to "She exempted me from the exam" [syn: {exempt}, {relieve}] [ant: {enforce}] 5: make available or free for sale or publication [syn: {release}] 6: free from obligations or duties [syn: {discharge}] 7: free or remove obstruction from [syn: {disengage}] [ant: {obstruct}] 8: let off the hook [syn: {absolve}, {justify}] [ant: {blame}] 9: part with [syn: {release}, {relinquish}, {give up}] 10: make available, as of assets; or free for sale or publication [syn: {unblock}, {unfreeze}, {release}] [ant: {freeze}, {freeze}] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: free See {free software}, {free variable}.
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