Free a. World English Historical Dictionary

Free a. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2022. Free a. Forms: 1 frío, fréo, freoh, frioh, frí, frý, fríȝ, 2–3 fri(e, 3–4 freo, (3 south. vreo), 4 fry, frey, south. vry, vri, 6 frye, 6–7 (chiefly Sc.) frie, 2–6 fre, 4– free. [Com. Teut.: OE. fréo, frío, fríȝ corresponds to OFris. frî, OS. frî (recorded only as sb. and in the compound frî-lîk;K Du. vrij), OHG. frî (MHG. vrî, mod. Ger. frei), ON. *frí-r (lost exc. in the compound friáls:—*frî-hals ‘free-necked,’ free; the mod.Icel. frí, Sw., Da. fri are adopted from Ger.), Goth. frei-s:—OTeut. *frijo- free:—OAryan *priyo-, represented by Skr. priyá dear, Welsh rhŷdd free, f. root *pri to love (Skr. prî to delight, endear; OSl. prijatelĭ friend, Goth. frijôn, OE. fréon to love, whence FRIEND).

1   The primary sense of the adj. is ‘dear’; the Germanic and Celtic sense comes of its having been applied as the distinctive epithet of those members of the household who were connected by ties of kindred with the head, as opposed to the slaves. The converse process of sense-development appears in Lat. lōberō ‘children,’ literally the ‘free’ members of the household.]

2   I.  Not in bondage to another.

3   1.  Of persons: Not bound or subject as a slave is to his master; enjoying personal rights and liberty of action as a member of a society or state.

4 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xli. § 2. Gif hwyle swiþe rice cyning … næfde nænne fryne [MS. Cott. freone] mon on eallon his rice, ac wæron ealle þeowe.

5 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Exod. xxi. 2. Þeowie he six ȝer and beo him freoh on þam seofoðan.

6 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6708 (Gött.).        Qua-so smytes vte his thrales eye, And mas him vnsihti for to sie, Or toth vte of his muth smyte, He sal him make fre and quite.

7 1535.  Coverdale, Job iii. 19. There are small and greate: the bonde man, and he that is fre from his master.

8 1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 81.          Ant.  When I did make thee free.     Ibid. (1610), Temp. I. ii. 442.                 Delicate Ariel, I’ll set thee free for this.

9 1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 16. These are free Negroes, and wear upon the small of one of their legs, the badge of their freedom; which is a small piece of silver, or tin, as big as the stale of a Spoon; which comes round about the leg.

10 1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 65. It sometimes happens, though rarely, that free girls are sold as slaves.

11   b.  fig. (esp. in a spiritual sense = not in bondage to sin).

12 c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., John viii. 36. Gif forðon sunu iow ȝefrioð soðlice frio ȝe bioðon.

13 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 101. He hadde maked hem fre of þe deules þralsipe.

14 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, X. iii. 84. Than of the fatis fre [orig. libera fati.], in thar navy.

15 1610.  Shaks., Temp., Epilogue, 20.        As you from crimes would pardon’d be, Let your indulgence set me free.

16 1611.  Bible, Gal. v. 1. Stand fast therefore in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made vs free, and bee not intangled againe with the yoke of bondage.

17 1643.  Denham, Cooper’s Hill, 129.        Who fears not to do ill, yet fears the Name, And free from Conscience, is a slave to Fame.

18 1695.  Ld. Preston, Boeth., IV. 194. Everything is by so much the freer from Fate.

19   c.  Of or belonging to free men. Free labor: the labor of free men (in contradistinction to that of slaves).

20 1856.  Olmsted, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, 100. On the whole, he is satisfied that at present free-labor is more profitable than slave-labor, though his success is not so evident that he would be willing to have attention particularly called to it.

21   2.  Of a state, its citizens, institutions, etc.: Enjoying civil liberty; existing under a government which is not arbitrary or despotic, and does not encroach upon individual rights. Also, not subject to foreign dominion.

22 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 219.        Al[a]s! that folk, that euir wes fre, And in fredome wount for to be, Throw thar gret myschance, and foly, War tretyt than sa wykkytly.

23 1382.  Wyclif, 1 Macc. xi. 31. And Jerusalem be holy, and free, with his coostis.

24 1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. i. 49.        Till the iniurious Romans did extort This Tribute from vs, we were free.

25 1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 258.                            Here at least We shall be free.

26 1770.  Junius Lett., xxxvii. 184. That he is king of a free people, is indeed his greatest glory.

27 1792.  Residence in France (1797), I. 155. The timid or indolent inhabitant of London, whose head has been filled with the Bastilles and police of the ancient government, and who would as soon have ventured to Constantinople as to Paris, reads, in the debates of the Convention, that France is now the freeest country in the world, and that strangers from all corners of it flock to offer their adorations in this new Temple of Liberty.

28 1802.  Wordsw., Sonn., ‘It is not to be thought of that the flood.’        We must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake.

29 1817–8.  Cobbett, Resid. U. S. (1822), 21. Is it not a mockery to call a man free, who no more dares turn out his tallow into candles for his own use, than he dares rob upon the highway?

30 1867.  Smiles, Huguenots Eng., xi. (1880), 187. Bayle designated Holland ‘the great ark of the fugitives.’ It became the chief European centre of free thought, free religion, and free industry.

31   † 3.  Noble, honorable, of gentle birth and breeding. In ME. a stock epithet of compliment. Often in alliterative phr. fair and free. Obs.

32 a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 1642 (Gr.).        Ða wearþ Seme suna & dohtra on woruldrice worn afeded, freora bearna.

33 c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. lvi[i]. 9.        Ic þe on folcum frine drihten ecne andete.

34 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 109/100. Þe Amirales douȝter to him seide þat was so fair and fre.

35 1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 420.        He was þulke of al hys sones þat best bycom kyng to be, Of fayrost fourme & maners, & mest ȝentyl & fre.

36 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8121 (Cott).        Als milk þair [Ethiopians’] hide be-com sa quite, And o fre blod þai had þe heu, And al þair scapp was turnd neu.

37 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 795. My ioy, my blys, my lemman fre.

38 a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 633.        Sith Mirthe, that is so fair and free, Is in this yerde with his meynee.     Ibid. (c. 1384), H. Fame, I. 440. And Eneas, besyde an yle, To helle wente, for to see His fader, Anchises the free.

39 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 125.        For to wyrship that chyld so fre, In tokyn that he kyng shalbe           Of alkyn thyng.

40 c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, ix. 199. They met wyth damp Rambault, the free knyght.

41 c. 1554.  Interlude of Youth, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 20.        To have a sight I would be fain Of that lady free.

42 1632.  Milton, L’Allegro, 11. But com thou Goddes fair and free.

43   † 4.  Hence in regard to character and conduct: Noble, honorable, generous, magnanimous. Obs.

44 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 25523.        Þat ilk time þou mistred þe, Suet iesu! wit hert sa fre, To maria magdalene.

45 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 525.        ‘Now frynd,’ quod þat faire, ‘as ye bene fre holden, Will ye suffer me to say, and the sothe telle?’

46 1559.  Mirr. Mag., Salisbury, xviii.        For vertuous life, fre hart and lowly mind, With high and low shall alwaies fauour find.

47 1594.  H. Willobie, in Shaks. C. Praise, 16.        You must be secret, constant, free, Your silent sighes & trickling teares, Let her in secret often see.

48 1604.  Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 199.        I would not haue your free, and Noble Nature, Out of selfe-Bounty, be abus’d.

49   † b.  Of studies: Liberal; = L. ingenuæ (artes).

50 1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.), 150. He sholde make his chyldryn to lerne fre Sciencis of Clergi.

51   II.  Released, loose, unrestricted.

52   5.  At liberty; allowed to go where one wishes, not kept in confinement or custody. † Free keeping = L. libera custodia. Also, released from confinement or imprisonment, liberated. Phr. to set free, let go free, etc. (Also fig.)

53 1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 206/2. And ij yere he was in free kepyng and disputed ayenst the Iewes.

54 1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy. Turkie, I. xx. 24 b. He wold as he had promised them set them at free deliuerance: & that therfore without fearing any thing he wold cause them al to com out of the castle.

55 1608.  Shaks., Per., IV. vi. 107.                    O that the gods Would set me free from this unhallow’d place!

56 1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton, xvi. (1840), 269. We would let them go free.

57 a. 1721.  Prior, Love disarmed, 25.        Set an unhappy Pris’ner free, Who ne’er intended Harm to thee.

58 1824.  Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), II. 37/2. We use no compulsion with untried prisoners. You are free as air till you are found guilty.

59 1871.  Morley, Voltaire (1886), 2. Calvin … set free all those souls that were more anxious to look the tremendous facts of necessity and evil and punishment full in the face, than to reconcile them with any theory of the infinite mercy and loving-kindness of a supreme creator.

60   b.  Of animals: Not kept in confinement, at liberty to range abroad.

61 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XII. 250. For lewede folke, godes foules · and hus free bestes.

62 1697.  Dryden, Æneid, VI. 887.        Their Lances fix’d in Earth, their Steeds around, Free from their Harness, graze the flow’ry Ground.

63 1844.  A. B. Welby, Poems (1867), 35.        Lonely! and did I call thee lone?   ’T was but a careless word: The round blue heaven is all thine own,   O free and happy bird!

64 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 312. Deer, as free as in an American forest, wandered there by thousands.

65   6.  Released from ties, obligations, or constraints upon one’s action.

66 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. i. 142. Till by helping Baptista’s eldest daughter to a husband we set his youngest free for a husband.

67 a. 1605.  Montgomerie, Commend. of Love, 1.        I rather far be fast nor frie, Albeit I micht my mynd remove; My maistres hes a man of me, That lothis of euery thing bot love.

68 1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. v. 57.          Mes.  Free Madam, no: I made no such report, He’s bound vnto Octauia.

69 a. 1721.  Prior, Song, ‘Phillis, since we,’ 18.        We both have spent our stock of love, So consequently should be free; Thyrsis expects you in yon grove, And pretty Chloris stays for me.

70 1859.  Autobiog. Beggar Boy, 2. You have only known me since I was what may be termed a free man; or, in other words, since I became independent by the application of my energies to honest industry.

71   b.  Released or exempt from work or duty.

72 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 639.          O happy, if he knew his happy State! The Swain, who, free from Business and Debate, Receives his easy Food from Nature’s Hand, And just Returns of cultivated Land!

73 1700.  S. L., trans. C. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 300. They watch, and are free by turns in the day-time, but at night they must all be in the Fort upon pain of Death.

74 a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1766), II. 37. Coleman had a whole day free to make his escape.

75 c. 1818.  Sir R. Peel, in Croker Papers (1884), I. iv. 116. A fortnight hence I shall be free as air—free from ten thousand engagements which I cannot fulfil.

76   7.  Guiltless, innocent, acquitted. Const. from, of (a. crime or offence). ? Obs.

77 1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 252. Your Maiestie and wee that haue free soules, it touches vs not.            Ibid., V. ii. 341.   Laer.  Mine and my Fathers death come not vpon thee, Nor thine on me.   Ham.  Heauen make thee free of it.

78 1637.  Rutherford, Lett., 23 Sept. (1891), 521. I am free from the blood of all men, for I have communicated to you the whole counsel of God.

79 1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 3. There is no place so void and empty, where some lawful pleasure is not to be had, for a man that hath a free heart, and a good Conscience.

80 1678.  Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, III. i (end).        Impute my Errors to your own Decree; My Hands are guilty, but my Heart is free.

81   8.  Of actions, activity, motion, etc.: Unimpeded, unrestrained, unrestricted, unhampered. Also of persons: Unfettered in their action.

82 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 13079. Þe king þam lete haf fre entre.

83 c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 152. Þe necke schal neuere have his free mevynge.

84 1463.  Bury Wills (Camden), 22. Haue hire liberte of fre owth goyng and in comyng at the gate.

85 1535.  Coverdale, 2 Thess. iii. 1. That the worde of God maye haue fre passage.

86 1598.  Shaks., Merry W., III. ii. 86. We shall haue the freer woing at Mr Pages.

87 1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 292. That the water may have free passage to all parts.

88 1655.  Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, V. iii. § 62. Whilst each Bishop in his respective Diocesse, Priest in his Parish, were freer than formerly in execution of their Office, acquitted from Papal dependance.

89 1664.  H. More, Myst. Iniq., Apol. 552. As if one, while his friend was stooping, should fetch a freer stroke at their common Enemy.

90 1713.  Berkeley, Guardian, No. 49, 7 May, ¶ 7. A gallery of pictures, a cabinet, or library that I have free access to, I think my own.

91 1791.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, vi. The negligence of her dress, loosened for the purpose of freer respiration, discovered the graces which her auburn tresses that fell in profusion over her bosom, shaded, but could not conceal.

92 1828.  Ld. Grenville, Sink. Fund, p. viii. Truth alone is my object; and, without the free examination of previously received opinion, no branch of human knowledge can ever be advanced.

93 1851.  Ruskin, Stones Ven., xvii. (1874) I. 188. For those who are willing to remain at rest, so they have free admission of the light of Heaven.

94 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 112, The Republic, Introduction. In the third stage, or democracy, the various passions are allowed to have free play, and the virtues and vices are impartially cultivated.

95   b.  phr. (To have or give) a free hand: liberty of action in affairs that one has to deal with. So to have one’s hands free.

96 1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xiv. 329. Harold thus had his hands free.

97 1890.  J. Corbett, Drake, ix. 117. He was given a free hand to act against the East and West India convoys.

98 1895.  Col. Maurice, in United Service Mag., July, 414. No one ever had, in the composition of any history, official or other, a freer hand or more ample resources.

99   c.  with to and inf.: At liberty, allowed, or permitted to do something. Also, † permitted by one’s conscience, feeling it right to do something.

100 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 49.        For thanne thapostle seith, I am free To wedde, a goddes half, wher it lyketh me.

101 1666.  Pepys, Diary, 1 May. My cosen Thomas Pepys did come to me, to consult about the business of his being a Justice of the Peace, which he is much against; and, among other reasons, tells me, as a confidant, that he is not free to exercise punishment according to the Act against Quakers and other people, for religion.

102 1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 98.                    I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

103 1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. iii. 31. Privateers are not obliged to any Ship, but free to go ashore where they please, or to go into any other Ship that will entertain them, only paying for their Provision.

104 1812.  H. & J. Smith, Horace in Lond., 83.        Thy Emperor, Gaul, may astonish the nations,   While Nepture forbids him to Britain to roam, He’s free to sow discord in German plantations,   Then marry, the better to reap it at home.

105 1818.  Scott, Heart Midl., xix. If ye arena free in conscience to speak for her in the court of judicature, follow your conscience.

106 1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxxi. The servant-maids felt her inferiority, for they were better treated; free to come and go, and regarded in their stations with much more respect.

107 1876.  Smiles, Sc. Natur., iii. (ed. 4), 59. He was thoroughly sick of his trae, and wished to engage in some other occupation that would leave him freer to move about.

108   d.  Not fettered in judgment; unbiased, open-minded.

109 1653.  H. More, Antid. Ath., I. xi. (1712), 35. I appeal to any free Judge how likely these liquid particles are [etc.]. Ibid., III. xvi. (1712), 141. His own words are so free and ingenuous, and his judgment so considerable.

110 1686.  Burnet, Trav., i. (1750), 60. I wish they had larger and freer souls.

111   e.  Showing absence of constraint or timidity in one’s movements.

112 1849.  G. P. R. James, The Woodman, vii. The traveller came forward with a bold, free step.

113   9.  Of literary or artistic composition, etc.: Not observing strict laws of form; (of a translation, copy, etc.) not adhering strictly to the original.

114 1813.  Tytler, Ess. Princ. Transl. (ed. 3), 231. The limits between free translation and paraphrases are more easily perceived than they can be well defined.

115 1821.  W. M. Craig, Lectures on Drawing, etc., vii. 406. It is not well suited to a free and tasteful expression of the minute forms in landscape.

116 1844.  Stanley, Arnold, I. iii. 121. The rapidity with which he would pounce on any mistake of grammar or construction, however dexterously concealed in the folds of a free translation.

117 1869.  Ouseley, Counterp., xv. 97. When … it becomes impossible to follow exactly all the intervals proposed…. The imitation is then said to be Free, or Irregular.

118   10.  Allowable or allowed (to or for a person to do something); open or permitted to.

119 1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 216. In what one thing can we excel others, if that which we haue learned, be free for euery man to know and exercise him with all?

120 1618.  Bolton, Florus, To the Reader. Be it free, with reverence and modesty, to note over-sights.

121 1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 44. It was free to every one to bastinado a Christian where he met him, with staves, stickes, clubs, bridles, rods, whips, ropes.

122 1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 747.        Defaming as impure what God declares Pure, and commands to som, leaves free to all.

123 1709.  Hearne, Collect., 4 April. Ye Copy was in ye Publick Library, free to ye View of any one yt desir’d it.

124 1796.  Burke, Lett. Noble Ld., Wks. VIII. 32. His grace may think as meanly as he will of my deserts in the far greater part of my conduct in life. It is free for him to do so.

125 1846.  Trench, Mirac., xxxii. (1862), 452. The ‘twelve legions of Angels,’ whom it was free to Him to summon to his aid.

126   b.  Open to all competitors; open for all. Free fight: a fight in which all and sundry engage promiscuously.

127 1870.  Lowell, Study Wind., 430. Mr. Bowles made an angry and unmannerly retort, among other things charging Gilchrist with the crime of being a tradesman’s son, whereupon the affair became what they call on the frontier a free fight, in which Gilchrist, Roscoe, the elder Disraeli, and Byron took part with equal relish, though with various fortune.

128 1872.  ‘Mark Twain,’ Innoc. Abr., xvii. 114. The sailors of a British ship, being happy with grog, came down on the pier and challenged our sailors to a free fight.

129 1881.  Chicago Times, 11 June. The grand free-for-all horse race, open to the world.

130 1887.  Spectator, LX. 4 June, 759/2. English riots are mere free-fights, begun without special premeditation, and carried out with very little principle but that of ‘wherever you see a head, hit it.’

131   11.  Of a space, way, passage, etc.: Clear of obstructions, open, unobstructed. So of air = freely-circulating, in which one breathes freely.

132 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3243.        On twel[fe] doles delt ist ðe se, xii. weiȝes ðer-hi ben faiȝer and fre.

133 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5931 (Gött.).        Froskis … al þe erde þai couerd sua, A man miht noght fre sett his ta.

134 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 233.                  Are not the streets as free For me as for you?

135 1671.  Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 145. They did meet with no Ice, but a free and open Sea.

136 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 47.        Where in the Void of Heav’n a Space is free, Betwixt the Scorpion and the Maid, for thee.     Ibid., IV. 424. They stop his Nostrils, while he strives in vain To breath free Air, and struggles with his Pain.

137 1808.  Scott, Marm., I. iv.        And quickly make the entrance free, And bid my heralds ready be, And every minstrel sound his glee.

138 1853.  Patmore, Tamerton Church-Tower, 18.        Our weary spirits flagg’d beneath   The still and loaded air; We left behind the freër heath,   A moody-minded pair.

139 1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., I. iii. 35. The wind off shore, but hauling to the southward, with much free water.

140   12.  Clear of (something which is regarded as objectionable or an encumbrance). Const. of from.

141 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5923.        Ne was in hus na vessel fre þat watur hild, o stan ne tre, O þis watur þat sua stanc.

142 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XV. xlii. (1495), 503. Creta is an ylonde free and clene of venyme.

143 1670.  Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 20. Every Man is commanded to keep himself clean, and free from Lice, upon forfeiture of his daily Allowance to the Party accusing him.

144 1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 236/2. I my self have seen a Woman all Hairy, no part of her Face free, having a long Beard, about the Year 1661.

145 1698.  J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 119. The Parseys draw Wine a-kin to Toddy, which after the Sun is up, contracts an Eagerness with an heady Quality; so that these places are seldom free from Soldiers and Seamen of the Moors.

146 1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 120. There is hardly any mine, of what kind soever, free from pyrite.

147 1854.  G. B. Richardson, Univ. Code, v. (ed. 12), 4105. I can keep free with the pumps.

148 1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xix. 135. The walls [of the glacier] were of transparent blue ice, singularly free from air-bubbles.

149 1885.  Law Times, LXXIX. 4 July, 176/1. The main travelling ways and upper parts of the mine had been duly inspected that morning and reported free from any accumulation of foul gas.

150   13.  † a. Of a bird’s flight: Agile, swift. Obs.

151 1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 4. Her ordinary flying for her own pleasure, and not for prey, is commonly more free than the best Haggard Faulcon. Ibid., This Bird, is a kind of sea Hawk, somewhat bigger than a Lanner, and of that colour; but of a far freer wing, and of a longer continuance.

152   b.  Naut. Of the wind: Not adverse (see quot. 1867).

153 1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. 81. As we had the wind free, the booms were run out, and every one was aloft, active as cats, laying out on the yards and booms, reeving the studding-sail gear; and sail after sail the captain piled upon her, until she was covered with canvas, her sails looking like a great white cloud resting upon a black speck.

154 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. Freeing.… When all the water is pumped or baled out, the vessel is said to be free. Said of the wind when it exceeds 67° 30′ from right-ahead.

155 1880.  Daily Tel., 7 Sept. She is on the wrong tack, but the last puff was free, and helped her.

156   14.  Of material things: Not restrained in movement, not fixed or fastened. To get free: to get loose (from something that restrains or encumbers), to extricate.

157 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 19.          And knitting all his force got one hand free,   Wherewith he grypt her gorge with so great paine, That soone to loose her wicked bands did her constraine.

158 1667.  Milton, P. L., VII. 463.                        Now half appeer’d The Tawnie Lion, pawing to get free His hinder parts.

159 1861.  J. R. Greene, Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent., 114. Cuvier, indeed, associated the Velellidæ, Medusidæ, and free zoöids of the Lucernaridæ in a single group, under the name of ‘Acelèphes Simples.’

160 1862.  H. Spencer, First Princ., II. x. § 82 (1875), 250. When the pennant of a vessel lying becalmed first shows the coming breeze, it does so by gentle undulations that travel from its fixed to its free end.

161 1879.  E. Prout, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 40/2. Its [the æolina’s] value for artistic purposes was nil; its only interest is a historical one, as being one of the earliest attempts to make practical use of the discovery of the free reed.

162 1884.  F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook, Free Spring…. A balance spring uncontrolled by curb pins.

163 1890.  Boldrewood, Colonial Reform. (1891), 149. The yacht, sweeping like a seamew over the rippling, gaily-breaking billow, with courses free and a merry company aboard, holds high excitement and joyous freedom from the world’s cankering cares.

164   15.  Disengaged from contact or connection with some other body or surface; relieved from the pressure of an adjacent or superincumbent body. In Bot., not adnate to other organs. Free-central: see quot. 1845.

165 1715.  Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), II. 10. This defect may be remedy’d, by making over the Architraves (in the height of the frize) Arches that will bear the weight, and leave the Architraves free.

166 1830.  R. Knox, Béclard’s Anat., 374. At the free surface of the mucous membrane.

167 1845.  Lindley, Sch. Bot., i. (1858), 16. If it [the placenta] grows in the middle of the ovary, without adhering to its sides … it is called free central.

168 1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., I. 8. The anthers remaining separate, and being termed free.

169 1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, 105. Carpels 1 or more, free or connate or adnate to the calyx-tube.

170   16.  Chem., etc. Uncombined.

171 1800.  trans. Lagrange’s Chem., I. 244. The nitric acid remains free in the liquor.

172 1851.  Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 51. By the decomposition of the carbonic acid, oxygen is set-free.

173 1862.  Ansted, Channel Isl., IV. xx. (ed. 2), 464. If is chiefly a silicate of alumina, with some free silica, and a trace of iron.

174 c. 1865.  J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 148/2. A few grains of kaolin, or pipe-clay, may be added to neutralise an excess of free acid.

175   17.  Of power or energy: Disengaged, available for ‘work.’

176 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 662. The whole power of the engine would be expended in impelling itself and the ship containing it, at the supposed rate, and no free power would remain for freight.

177 1837.  Brewster, Magnet., 365. The decomposition of the neutral fluid will begin immediately, and will continue till the action of the free fluid is in equilibrio with the external force.

178 1838.  Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., I. 6. Proving that free electricity is not, under any circumstances, conducted silently to the earth.

179   18.  Of a material: Yielding easily to operation, easily worked, loose and soft in structure. Also free-working: see D. 1. a below. See also FREESTONE, whence this sense prob. arises.

180 1573.  in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 174. Item for Ramsey stone free and ragge.

181 1676.  Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 353. Many flat stones, but being free and soft, their inscriptions are woren out.

182 1765.  A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 59. Fallowing land is a custom that now prevails in many places; and even that kind of land that is most free and open in its nature, is found to be rendered more fertile by it.

183 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 106. This stone was capable of being thus wrought, and was so free to the tool.

184 1807.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 11. In those places where the upper parts of the rock are of a splintry texture, rising below in rhomboidal or cubical fragments, exhibiting in their fracture a dun, or rather liver-coloured appearance, and the small stones on the surface are found to be encrusted with a brown, or rather yellowish kind of ochre, it is generally called free, or Dunstone land.

185   b.  Of wood: Without knots. (So free-stuff: see D. 2.)

186 1678.  [see FROUGHY 2].

187 1770.  Kuckahn, in Phil. Trans., LX. 315. Out of any soft free wood, cut an artificial one as near the shape of it as possible.

188   III.  Characterized by spontaneity, readiness or profuseness in action.

189   19.  Of a person, his will, etc.: Acting of one’s own will or choice, and not under compulsion or constraint; determining one’s own action or choice, not motived from without. (See also FREE WILL.)

190 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xli. § 2. Forþæm he ȝesceop twa ȝesceadwisan ȝesceafta frio [MS. Cott. freo], englas & men.

191 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 7441.        He knew nat that she was constreyned, Nee of her theeves life feyned, But wende she come of wille al fre.

192 1601.  ? Marston, Pasquil & Katherine, I. 180. Sir. Edw. Nay, be free, my daughters, in election.

193 1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. ii. 168.        The Reasons you alledge, do more conduce To the hot passion of distemp’red blood, Then to make vp a free determination ’Twixt right and wrong.

194 1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. iii. § 5. Considering man as a free agent, there can be no way imagined so consonant to the nature of man as this was, because thereby he might declare his obedience to God to be the matter of his free choyce.

195 1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., VII. § 22. A man is said to be Free, so far forth as he can do what he will.

196 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 561. From the day when he quitted Friesland to the day when his followers separated at Kilpatrick, he had never been a free agent.

197 1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xi. 6. The choice of the electors would be perfectly free.

198   20.  Ready in doing or granting anything; acting willingly or spontaneously; (of an act done of one’s own accord; (of an offer, assent, etc.) readily given or made, made with good will.

199 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 851.        As he that wys was and obedient To kepe his forward by his free assent.

200 1535.  Coverdale, 1 Kings x. 13. And Kynge Salomon gaue vnto ye Quene of riche Arabia, all that she desyred and axed, besydes that which he gaue her of a frye hande.

201 1549.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Collect 20th Sund. Trinity. That we maye with free hearts accomplyshe those thynges that thou wouldest have done.

202 1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 121. There is no kinde of thing, which Cæsars highnesse, of his owne accord, wil not graunt and giue of his free bountie.

203 1607.  Shaks., Timon, I. ii. 188.        Out of his free love, hath presented to you Four milk-white horses, trapp’d in silver.

204 1611.  Tourneur, The Atheist’s Tragedie, 1. i.          Charl.  You neede not urge my spirit by disgrace, ’Tis free enough; my Father hinders it.

205 1618.  Bolton, Florus (1636), 13. Tarqiunius … of his own free courage demanding the Kingdome, had it as freely granted, for his industry, and noble carriage.

206 a. 1626.  Bacon, New Atl., Wks. 1802, II. 132. His noble free offers left us nothing to ask.

207 1651.  C. Cartwright, Certamen Religiosum, I. 206. God doth justifie us (saith he) of his free-goodnes, whereby he doth embrace us in Christ, whiles that he clothes us being ingraffed into him with Christs innocency and righteousnesse.

208 1882.  Ogilvie, s.v. He made him a free offer of his services.

209   b.  with inf.: Ready to do something; eager, willing, prompt. Obs. exc. in phr. free to confess, where the adj. is now apprehended as in 8 c.

210 1660.  Trial Regic., 22. I shall be very free to open my Heart.

211 1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. v. 94. He was very free to talk with me, and first asked me my business thither?

212 a. 1716.  Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 276. To part with anything in this World … and to be free to suffer any temporal Loss … rather than live in a State of strong Temptation to Sin.

213 1722.  Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. in. 191. But they were not free to consent thereto, because they esteemed this demand unjust, not being guilty of the breach of any law.

214 1784.  New Spectator, xvi. 6/2. For my own part, I will be free to confess, that, in my opinion, [etc.].

215 1821.  Clare, The Village Minstrel, I. 40. lxxv.        ’Tis pleasing then to view the cotter’s cheer, To mark his gentle and his generous mind; How free he is to push about his beer.

216 1824.  Byron, Juan, XVI. lxxiii.        He was ‘free to confess’—(whence comes this phrase?   Is ’t English? No—’t is only parliamentary) That innovation’s spirit now-a-days   Had made more progress than for the last century.

217 1874.  Ruskin, Fors Clav., xxxvii. 4. I am free to confess I did not quite know the sort of creature I had to deal with.

218   c.  Of a horse: Ready to go, willing.

219 1477.  Sir J. Paston, in P. Lett., No. 802, III. 200. It shall neur neede to prykk nor threte a free horse.

220 a. 1592.  Greene, Alphonsus, IV. Wks. (Rtldg.), 242/1.        More would I say, but horses that be free Do need no spurs.

221 1673.  E. Brown, Brief Acc. Trav., 71. They [Servian horses] are very free.

222 1884.  Daily News, 23 July, 7/2. ‘Free horses’—horses that is … that have been working in pairs, and have been too conscientious in their work, and have done more than their share.

223   21.  Ready in giving, liberal, lavish. Const. of

224 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14396 (Cott).        Sa mighti meke, sa mild o mode, Sua fre giuer of all-kin gode.     Ibid. (c. 1300.  ), 27874 (Cott. Galba). And help þe pouer with hert fre, And lif in luf and charite.     Ibid., 28741 (Cott. Galba). And what nede es þat þe spenser be Nithing of þat þe lord es fre.

225 1611.  Bible, 2 Chron. xxix. 31. As many as were of a free heart.

226 1663.  Butler, Hud., I. i. 496.        For Saints themselves will sometimes be Of Gifts that cost them nothing, free.

227 1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. 84. The Tonquinese in general are very free to their Visitants, treating them with the best cheer they are able to procure.

228 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. iv. I tossed her a bit of Biscuit, tho’ by the way I was not very free of it, for my Store was not great.

229 1740.  Garrick, Lying Valet, II. Wks. 1798, I. 53. When he’s drunk, which is commonly once a day, he’s very free, and will give me any thing!

230 1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 185. Handsome in person and free of hand, he [Eadgar] had not yet shown how little of real constancy there was in him.

231   b.  Of a gift: Given out of liberality or generosity (not in return or requital for something else).

232 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 312. To fynde goode prestis bi fre almes of þe peple.

233 1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par., Matt. i. 21. Iesus Christe, who was the messinger of this free felicitie.

234 1583.  Fulke, Defence, xv. 403. The worde χάρισμα … signifieth … ‘a free gift,’ or a gift that is freely giuen … wherof the Prouerbe is, what is so free as gift?

235 1791.  Gentl. Mag., LXI. I. May, 411/2. Benefices are now, I might almost say never a free gift from a private patron, or any reward or testimony of the clerk’s merit.

236   22.  Acting without restriction or limitation; allowing oneself ample measure in doing something.

237 1578.  Timme, Caluine on Gen., 86. Being convinced … that he was too free in sinning.

238 1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 147. I cannot beleeve that either too light, or too free-feeding hath occasioned you this dreame.

239 1727.  Pope, Th. Var. Subj., Swift’s Wks. 1755, II. I. 224. How free the present age is in laying taxes on the next.

240 1746.  Berkeley, Lett. Tar-water, ii. § 9. It may be no easy matter to persuade such as have long indulged themselves in the free use of strong fermented liquors and distilled spirits.

241 1791.  Gentl. Mag., LXI. I. Jan., 26/2. Probably no divine made a freer use of the paronomasia than Dan. Featley, one of the most celebrated preachers of his time; several pages of his sermons consistinng of a series of verbal quibbles and jingles.

242 1858.  Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., I. 191. He is apparently so free and careless in displaying his precious wares,—putting inestimable gems and brooches great and small into the hands of strangers like ourselves, and leaving scores of them strewn on the top of his counter,—that it would seem easy enough to take a diamond or two; but I suspect there must needs be a sharp eye somewhere.

243 1884.  Manch. Exam., 4 April, 4/5. At the close [of the market] the tone is easy, with free sellers.

244   b.  Free of or with: using or employing without reserve or restraint.

245 1632.  Lithgow, Trav., III. 92. He was so free of his stomacke to receive in strong liquor, that for the space of twenty daies of my being there, I never saw him, nor any one of the other three truely sober.

246 1653.  Bogan, Mirth Chr. Life, 80. Grotius, the freest man of his tongue that ever I knew.

247 1700.  S. L., trans. C. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 196. He was not free of his Discourse, except sometimes in the Relation of his Voyages, and the Description of the Countries he had seen.

248 1737.  H. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 258. He [Boyle] gives us a Caution not to be too free with such Preparations.

249   e.  Unstinted as to supply, quantity, etc.; coming forth in profusion; administered without stint; abundant, copious. (Used with mixture of sense 8.)

250 1635.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Banish’d Virg., 86. His wounded thigh by its free bleeding gave the spectators eye occasion to suspect the wound to be farre more dangerous than it was.

251 1707.  Hearne, Collect., 21 July. After a free glass or two, he (Mr. H.) happen’d to discourse.

252 1806.  Med. Jrnl., XV. 218. I have frequently found in old ulcerated legs, a free stimulus given to the absorbent system attended with the very best effects.

253 1822–34.  Good, Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 244. The skin warm, the pulse free and forcible.

254 1887.  Baring-Gould, Gaverocks, I. xii. 179. A monthly rose that was a free bloomer.

255   23.  Frank and open in conversation or intercourse, ingenuous, unreserved; also, in bad sense = over-free, forward, ‘familiar,’ ready to ‘take liberties.’

256 1635.  Quarles, Embl., I. iv. (1718), 18.        If thou be free, she’s strange; if strange, she’s free: Fell, and she follows; follow, and she’ll flee.

257 1635.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Banish’d Virg., 185. But Gradamoro for being of a free nature, suffering himselfe to be wholly guided by affection, quite forgot all circumspection, a quality most necessary in such an affaire.

258 1671.  Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 132. These Antipodes began to be somewhat bolder, and more free, so that they indeavoured to begin a truck or Merchandize with the Yacht, and began to come on board.

259 1693–4.  Gibson, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 217. His Grace is very free and open.

260 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. vi. I pressed him to be free and plain with me in what he had to say.

261 1775.  Sheridan, St. Patrick’s Day, II. ii. Lau. Not so free, fellow!

262 1800.  Mrs. Hervey, The Mourtray Family, II. 171. Daring and free as was this young nobleman, with women whose principles were as free as his own, he yet respected virtue.

263 1854.  Hawthorne, Eng. Note-bks. (1883), I. 464. I judge him to be a very able man, with the Western sociability and free-fellowship.

264   24.  To make (or be) free with: to adopt very familiar terms in one’s conversation or dealings with (a person); hence gen. and transf. to treat unceremoniously, take liberties with. Also Naut., to approach boldly.

265 1708.  Swift, Abolit. Chr., Wks. 1755, II. I. 84. Great wits love to be free with the highest objects; and if they cannot be allowed a God to revile or renounce, they will speak evil of dignities, abuse the government, and reflect upon the ministry.

266 1714.  Addison, Spect., No. 556, 18 June, ¶ 7. I was once like to have been run through the Body for making a little too free with my Betters.

267 1728.  N. Salmon, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 36. The Itinerary of Antoninus I find all authors making free with, condemning it for blunders, and altering figures as suits best with their schemes.

268 1783.  Hist. Miss Baltimores, II. 79. If I can infuse into Carleton’s ear, that Sedly and her ladyship make too free, he may … propose setting me as a watch over his wife’s conduct.

269 1803.  Nelson, 10 Aug., in Nicolas, Disp., VIII. 155. You are … to approach Toulon with great caution, and not make too free with the entrance of the harbour.

270 1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VI. i. If he find in the morning no paymaster for his job, he may with justice make free with our baggage.

271 1833.  Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & Snoek, i. 7. Rebuked him for being so free with the pastor.

272 1856.  Reade, Never too Late, l. I advise you not to make so free with your servants.

273 1858.  Merc. Marine Mag., V. Aug., 226. Avoiding this patch, you may make free with the western shore to within half a cable’s length.

274   25.  Of speech: Characterized by liberty in the expression of sentiments or opinions; uttered or expressed without reserve; frank, plain-spoken.

275 1611.  Tourneur, The Atheist’s Tragedie, V. ii. Wks. 1878. I. 148.        With the free voice of a departing soule, I here protest this Gentlewoman cleare Of all offence the law condemnes her for.

276 1625.  Bacon, Ess., Counsel (Arb.), 329. For else Counsellours will but take the Winde of him; And in stead of giuing Free Counsell, sing him a Song of Placebo.

277 1680.  H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 107. These will rejoyce when the two Witnesses are slain, their free rebukes out of the word of God being very disquieting and tormenting to these worldly and carnally minded men.

278 1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 493, 25 Sept., ¶ 1. The Mistress and the Maid shall quarrel, and give each other very free Language.

279 1794.  Nelson, 19 March, in Nicolas, Disp., I. 375. Gave Lord Hood my free opinion that 800 troops, with 400 seamen, would take Bastia, and that not attacking it I could not but consider as a National disgrace.

280 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. –66. The conversation at table was free; and the weaknesses of the prince whom the confederates hoped to manage were not spared.

281 1884.  L. J. Jennings in Croker Papers (1884), I. viii. 238. Men used rather free expressions to each other—and not to each other only, but to women—in the days of the Regency.

282   b.  Not observing due bounds, ‘loose,’ licentious.

283 1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, III. iii. Where she spoke and listened to much free talk.

284 1859.  Tennyson, Enid, 1138.          And wine and food were brought, and Earl Limours Drank till he jested with all ease, and told Free tales, and took the word and play’d upon it.

285   IV.  Not burdened, not subject or liable, exempt; invested with special rights or privileges.

286   26.  (With const. from or of): a. Released or exempt from, not liable to (e.g., a rule, penalty, payment).

287 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xvii. 26. Eornestlice þa barn senden frie.

288 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3240 (Cott.). O þi trout þan mak i þe fre.

289 1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 185. If it happen, that three yeares together he carry the Prize, he is free from all tax and imposition whatsoever, all his life after.

290 1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxi. § 60. The Will, free from the Determination of such Desires, is left to the pursuit of nearer Satisfactions, and to the removal of those Uneasinesses which it then feels in its want of, and longings after them.

291 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 7. That the Roman Catholic, where the interests of his religion were concerned, thought himself free from all the ordinary rules of morality.

292   b.  Exempt from, having immunity from, not subject to (some circumstances or affection regarded as hurtful or undesirable).

293 c. 1200.  Ormin, 16818.        Þatt Crist wass …     all þwerrt ut off sinne fre.

294 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 5. Freo ouer alle fram alle worldliche weanen.

295 1581.  Sidney, Apol. Poetrie (Arb.), 55. As for Poetrie it selfe, it is the freest from thys obiection.

296 1594.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., IV. ix. § 2. The freer our minds are from all distempered affections, the sounder and better is our judgment.

297 1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 264.                        These (my Lord) Are such allow’d Infirmities, that honestie Is neuer free of.

298 1698.  J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 35. When they feel themselves freest from Sickness, though all Perspiration through the Pores by Sweat is dried up.

299 1798.  Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, vi. 179. Our own writers are not free from this error; and it would not be unworthy their consideration, that a sentence, which is so much refined as to admit of several different senses, may perhaps have no direct claim to any sense.

300 1822.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Confess. Drunkard. Now, except when I am losing myself in a sea of drink, I am never free from those uneasy sensations in head and stomach, which are so much worse to bear than any definite pains or aches.

301 1885.  Manch. Exam., 21 May, 5/3. These Highlanders are notoriously free from pulmonary consumption.

302 1896.  Sir N. Lindley, in Law Times Rep., LXXIII. 1 Feb., 645/2. The point is a very short one, and it appears to me, I confess, free from any real difficulty.

303   27.  a. Exempt from, or not subject to, some particular jurisdiction or lordship. b. Possessed of certain exclusive rights or privileges. Used to designate franchises or liberties, as free chapel (see CHAPEL sb. 3 c); free chase = FRANK CHASE; free fishery (see FISHERY 4); free marriage = FRANK MARRIAGE; free warren (see WARREN). Free miner (local): see quot. 1883.

304 1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 474. Other holi churche was issent, that mid riȝte was so fre.

305 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 163.        Or as myn eldris forouch me Held It in freyast reawte.

306 c. 1483.  Caxton, Bk. Trav., 21 b. A cure of fre chapell.

307 1535.  Coverdale, Josh. xx. 2–3. Giue amonge you fre cities … yt they may be fre amonge you from the avenger of bloude.

308 1599.  E. Sandys, Europæ Speculum (1632), 170. The Free-Cities, which are of very great number and strength, haue all saue some very few, enfreed them selues from the Pope eyther in whole or in theyr greater part.

309 1611.  Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. iii. § 11. Setting to sale the free-rights of the Church.

310 1641.  Termes de la Ley, 168. Free marriage.

311 1669.  Sc. Acts Chas. II., 4. Tenements lands and fishings holden in frie burgage.

312 1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. xi. 317. He was a free Merchant that told me this. For by that name the Dutch and English in the East-Indies, distinguish those Merchants who are not Servants to the Company.

313 1700.  Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 1107. Provided their Feoffees and Free-Tenants have sufficient Pasture.

314 1703.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3950/4. The several Regalties, Free- Fisheries, etc. Ibid. (1723), No. 6194/7. Elizabeth Smith … Free-Dealer.

315 1726.  C. Kirkham (title), Two Letters … the First Shewing … the Rights and Privileges of Pourallees or Free-Hey.

316 1785.  J. Phillips, Treat. Inland Navig., p. xii. The defection of the Colonies, now the Free and United States.

317 1810.  Sporting Mag., XXXVI. April, 26/2. Whether they should thereby confirm the rights of free warren and free chase claimed by the plaintiff.

318 1843.  G. P. R. James, Forest Days, v. No free-forester shall ever be arrested by our people, or on our land.

319 1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 44. The free towns of Lübeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, as heirs of the corporate estate of the Hanseatic League, became possessed of the Steelyard premises.

320 1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, Free Miner. A man born within the hundred of St. Briavels, in the county of Gloucester, who has worked a year and a day in a mine.

321 1884.  Law Times, 31 May, 78/2. A free miner made an application to the gaveller for a grant to him of one of the two gales.

322   28.  Of real property: Held without obligation of rent or service, freehold.

323 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 52/185.        An hondret hidenene of guod lond with hire he ȝaf þer Þat hous, al-so freo in eche point ase he him-sulf it heold er.

324 c. 1440.  York Myst., xxxii. 348. Armig. A place here beside lorde, wolde I wedde-sette. Pilat. What title has þou þer-to? is it þyne awne free? Armig. Lorde, fre be my fredome me fallis it.

325 1465.  Paston Lett., No. 522, II. 224. I have now yove ye other x. acres of fre londe aftir my discesse.

326 a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxxxi. 249. Your landes oughte to be rendred to you franke and fre.

327 1587.  in Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 180. Ladyes Crofte Mr. Losse free.

328 1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 492. She had conferred frankely vpon the people of Rome, a piece of medow ground lying vnder the Riuer Tybre, which was her owne Free-land.

329 1701.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3712/4. About 60 Acres of Meadow and Pasture Land, all Free Land.

330   † b.  Of property: At one’s own disposal. Obs.

331 1808.  Forsyth, Beauties Scotl. (1808), V. 144. A prohibition existed in the old regulations, called Country Acts, against marriage, unless where the young couple could show they possessed L.40 Scots of free gear.

332   29.  Invested with the rights or immunities of, admitted to the privileges of (a chartered company, corporation, city, or the like). Sometimes used simply, without of.

333 1496.  Act 12 Hen. VII., c. 6. Merchants and Adventurers dwelling and being free within the City of London.

334 1553.  in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 215. He was made fre in myne yere…. Am not I also a freeman?

335 1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1311/1. Citizen of London, and free of the clothworkers.

336 1610.  B. Jonson, Alch., I. iii. Free of the Grocers?

337 1651.  Rec. Carpenters’ Co., 4 Dec., in Jupp, Hist. Acc. Comp. Carpenters (1887), 160. Whereas the ffree Sawiers have indited a fforreine sawier at the sessions at the Old Bayly London, for working within the freedome of this Cittie of London.

338 1661.  Pepys, Diary, 3 May. It was in his and some others’ thoughts to have got me made free of the towne, but the Mayor, it seems, unwilling, and so they could not do it.

339 1688.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2317/1. The Company of Free Fishermen of Your River of Thames.

340 1690.  Locke, Govt., II. vi. § 59. Is a Man under the Law of England? what made him free of that Law? that is, to have the Liberty to dispose of his Actions and Possessions, according to his own Will, within the Permission of that Law?

341 1703.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3944/4. He is a Free-Burgess of Colchester.

342 1712.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 18 Sept. It is necessary they should be made free here before they can be employed.

343 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. xiii. In passing or fording a small river my horse fell, and made me free of the country, as they call it, that is to say, threw me in.

344 1766.  Entick, London, IV. 238–9. The shop-keepers are obliged to be free of the city.

345 1859.  C. Barker, Associative Principles, ii. 54. Watch with jealous care that persons not free of the craft were precluded from engaging in it.

346   b.  Hence: Allowed the use or enjoyment of (a place, etc.).

347 1687.  Dryden, Hind & P., III. 1245.        He therefore makes all Birds of ev’ry Sect Free of his Farm, with promise to respect Their sev’ral Kinds alike, and equally protect.

348 1713.  Steele, Guardian, No. 53, 12 May, ¶ 2. Powel of the Bath is reconciled to me, and has made me free of his show.

349 1818.  Keats, Endymion, III. Poet. Wks. (1886), 139. And I was free of haunts umbrageous.

350 1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, x. Barnaby’s as free of the house as any cat or dog about it.

351   30.  Said of workmen who are not members of a trade union: also free labor = the labor of non-unionists.

352 1890.  Times, 17 Sept., 4/3. A free labour registration for the purpose of securing the services of men … for work as free men without reference to any other combination.

353 1891.  Spectator, LXVI. 17 Jan., 83/1. All strikes occasioned by the refusal of Union men to work with free-labourers are illegal.

354   31.  Exempt from restrictions in regard to trade; allowed to trade in any market or with any commodities; open to all traders; also, not subject to tax, toll, or duty.

355 1631.  J. Weever, Ancient Funerall Monuments, 38. Gaue great immunities and priuiledges to the inhabitants, whom hee exempted from ordinarie Tributes, and instituted their Free-martes, or Markets, for al such as would dwell there, or negotiate with them.

356 1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 64. Nothing is so advantageous to it [trade] as a Free-Port.

357 1714.  Fr. Bk. of Rates, 2. Most of the Privileges of Cities, Towns, Persons, Free-fairs, and other Exemptions, were abolish’d at once.

358 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. xiii. Having gotten a good acquaintance at Manilla, he got his ship made a free ship.

359 1753.  Scots Mag., March, 110/2. Free ships render the merchandize on board free.

360 1842.  Calhoun, Wks. (1874), IV. 105. The act … increased the list of free articles many-fold.

361 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Free Public-house, one not belonging to a brewer; the landlord has therefore free liberty to brew his own beer, or purchase where he chooses.

362 1862.  Latham, Channel Isl., III. xvii. (ed. 2), 400. It became a free port, and throve through its freedom.

363   32.  (In full free of cost, charge, or the like). Given or provided without payment, costless, gratuitous. Of persons: (Admitted, etc.) without payment.

364 1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy. Turkie, III. xviii. 104. Go roging alone through the towns and villages following the bathes, tauernes and assemblies, for to haue free shot and cheare.

365 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 356.        Or lazy Drones, without their Share of Pain, In Winter Quarters free, devour the Gain.

366 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. xvii. If the shipis, or may be recovered, you will carry me and my man to England, passage-free.

367 1830.  J. Wilson, Noctes Ambrosianæ, in Blackw. Mag., XXVIII. Aug., 400. Paid partly, I presume, in pounds, shillings, and pence; partly in victuals; and partly in free tickets.

368 1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, vi. (1850), 22/1. Subscriptions were entered into, books were bought, all the free-seat people provided therewith.

369 1852.  Macaulay, Jrnl., 15 Aug. I got a place among the free seats, and heard not a bad sermon on the word ‘Therefore.’

370 1856.  Hawthorne, Eng. Note-bks. (1883), II. 234. We now went to the Haymarket Theatre, where Douglas Jerrold is on the free list.

371 1856.  Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. i. 43. To every man, according to his degree, who chose to ask for it, there was free fare and free lodging.

372 1894.  Times (weekly ed.), 9 Feb., 113/2. An … applicant for a free pass over this company’s lines of railway.

373   b.  Free school: ‘a school in which learning is given without pay’ (J.).

374   It has been denied that this was the meaning of ‘free (grammar) school,’ L. libera schola grammaticalis, as the official designation of many schools founded under Edw. VI. The denial rests on the two assertions (both disputable): that the Eng. phrase is a translation of the Latin, not the reverse; and that liber could not mean ‘gratuitous’ in mediæval any more than in classical Latin. Many different interpretations of the adj. have been proposed: (1) exempt from ecclesiastical control; (2) exempted by licence from the operation of the statute of mortmain, and hence entitled to hold property (to a limited amount); (3) giving a liberal education; (4) ‘privileged’ or ‘authorized.’ We have failed, however, to find any example in which the interpretation ‘gratuitous’ is inadmissible (though the schools called ‘free’ were often gratuitous only to a select number or class of scholars); and there is abundant proof that this interpretation was already current before the time of Edw. VI.

375 [1488.  Will of Sir Edm. Shaw (Som. Ho.). I woll that the said connyng Preeste kepe a Grammer scole contynually in the said Town of Stopforde [Stockport] … and that he frely without any … salary asking … except only my salary … shall teach, etc.]

376 1494.  Fabyan, Chron., VI. clxxi. 165. He [King Alfred] ordeyned the firste grammer scole at Oxenforde, and other free scoles.

377 1500.  Deed Found. Lancaster Grammar Sch., in National Observer (1896), 3 Oct., 578. [The master shall be] a profound grammarian, keping a Fre Scole, teching … the childer unto the utmost profitt, nothing taking therefor.

378 1503.  Will of Sir John Percyvale (Macclesfield, 1877), 5. I woll that the said preest shall alway kepe … in the said Town of Maxfeld a Fre Grammar Scole.

379 c. 1512.  Ordinance Agnes Mellers (MS. c. 1590), in Nottingham Rec., III. 453. [She founds at Nottingham] a Free Schole of one maister and Usher…. [They are forbidden to] take any other gift … whereby the scollers or their friends should be charged but at the pleasure of the friends of the scholars, save the wages to be paid by the said Guardians.

380 [1518.  Stat. St. Paul’s Sch., in Lupton, Life Colet, 271. John Colet … in … [1512] bylded a Scole in the Estende of paulis Church for clijj to be taught fre in the same.]

381 1548.  Chantry Certif., No. 22, in A. F. Leach, Eng. Schools at Reform. (1897), 82. The chauntry of Blakebroke…. Founded by one Robert Gryndour, esquier, by licence obtained of Kinge Henry the sixt … to manteigne a discrete priest, beyng sufficiently lerned in the arte of Gramer, to Kepe a Gramer scoole half Free; that ys to seye, taking of scolers lerning gramer, 8d. the quarter, and of others lerning to rede, 4d. the quarter.

382 1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 19. Be there not Vniuersities, colledges, and free schooles, where youth may bee brought vp in learning Gratis without any charges to their parents?

383 1599.  Will of P. Blundell (founding Tiverton Grammar School), in Rept. Comm. Char., 1820, III. App. 136. My meaning is, yt shall be for ever a Free Schole and not a Schole of exaction.

384 1673.  Essex Papers (Camden), I. 116. There is also a free schoole setled att Carickfergus, which is maintained by the Bishop. Clergy, &c.

385 1699.  Phil. Trans., XXI. 441. A State-House, and a Free-School.

386 1727.  Stat. Bury Gramm. School (Bury, 1863). I have ordered my Free Schole of Bury to be free to all boys born in the parish … yet my intent is … not to debar [the masters] from that common priviledg in all Free Scholes of receiving presents, benevolences, gratuities from the scholars.

387 1759.  Goldsm., Bee, No. 6, § 1 ¶ 4. The manner in which our youth of London are at present educated is, some in free schools in the city, but the far greater number in boarding schools about town.

388 1837.  Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III. 164. One needs but go from a charity-school in an English county to a free-school in Massachusetts, to see how different the bare acquisition of reading and writing is to children who, if they look forward at all, do it languidly, and into a life of mechanical labour merely, and to young citizens who are aware that they have their share of the work of self-government to achieve.

389 1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, vii. It’s a poor boy from the free-school. Ibid. (1842), Amer. Notes (1850), 113/1. Cincinnati is honourably famous for its free-schools, of which it has so many that no person’s child among its population can, by possibility, want the means of education.

390   transf.  1589.  R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., 10. I see the vaine is vp in the forhead, and Martin shall haue as good as he brings, or else a free schoole of skolds shal be set vp for the nonce.

391   † B.  sb. Obs.

392   1.  The adj. used absol.

393 c. 1300.  Beket, 221. The crie was sone wide couth among thue and freo.

394 c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 3153. Þo folwed bond and fre.

395 c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 5514. Feiþful as here fader · to fre & to þewe.

396   2.  A person of noble birth or breeding; a knight or lady.

397   [In OS. poetry fri neut. (prob. orig. adj. with ellipsis of wîf) is used in the sense of ‘lady,’ or ME. BURO; the same use occurs once in OE. in a passage known to be translated from OS. (quot. a. 1000 below).]

398 a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 457 (Gr.). Freo fæȝroste.

399 c. 1320.  Sir Trisr., 3046.        Ysonde men calleþ þat fre, Wiþ þe white hand.

400 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 929. ‘Þenne fare forth,’ quoth þat fre [an angel].

401 c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 505. Whan þe fre was in þe forest · founde in his denne.

402 c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 3441. þanne saide Roland to þat fry: ‘Damesele, þow spekest ful cortesly.’

403 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 268.        Ffor well I wote that it was he     My lord ihesu; he that betrayde that fre     sore may he rew.

404 a. 1549.  Murning Maidin, 14, in Laneham’s Let. (1871), Pref. 150.        I followit on that fre, That semelie wes to se.

405   C.  adv. In a free manner, freely: used in the different senses of the adj. In educated use now only techn. or arch., and chiefly in contexts where it admits of being interpreted as adj.

406 1559.  Mirr. Mag., Worcester, ii.        For time never was, nor ever I thinke shall be, That truth vnshent should speake in all thinges fre.

407 1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., II. i. 82.                        I as free forgiue you As I would be forgiuen: I forgiue all.

408 1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 200.        Achitophel, grown weary to possess A lawful Fame, and lazy Happiness; Disdain’d the Golden Fruit to gather free, And lent the Croud his Arm to shake the Tree.

409 1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 321. So as the Plumb-line play free in the Groove.

410 1709.  Strype, Ann. Ref., I. ii. 61. This Subsidy was extremely free and readily granted without any special Labour or Desire of the Queen, but out of most necessary Consideration and by the Court of Parliament.

411 1776.  G. Semple, A Treatise on Building in Water, 105. The Thread, that is, the Middle of the Current of the River, runs the freest, and is the least retarded by those Obstacles.

412 1850.  Mrs. Browning, Rom. Page, xxxiv.        The knight smiled free at the fantasy,   And adown the dell did ride.

413 1885.  Law Times, LXXX. 12 Dec., 101/1. The machine could have been put out of gear by a handle which pushed the strap fron the pulley working the machine on to an adjoining pulley which ran free.

414   b.  Without cost or payment. Often with gratis added. Scot free: see SCOT.

415 1568.  V. Skinner, trans. Montanus’ Inquisit., 35 b. Escape scotte free.

416 1682.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 252. Hee was admitted free gratis. Ibid. (1774), (1886), II. 195. Admitted to the freedom free gratis.

417 Mod.  The gallery will be open free on Saturdays.

418   c.  Naut. (To sail, go, etc.) free: i.e., with bowlines slackened and sheets eased; farther from the wind than when close-hauled.

419 1812.  Examiner, 12 Oct., 649/2. Both keeping up a heavy fire and steering free.

420 1839.  Marryat, Phantom Ship, I. xii. 289. We were going about four knots and a half free, and yet we could not escape from this mist.

421 1883.  J. D. Jerrold Kelly, The Modern Yacht, in Harper’s Mag., LXVII. Aug., 447/2. What, then, is wanted is a boat … with ability to fetch to windward and to run free.

422   D.  Comb.

423   1.  a. with ppl. adjs. where free is either adverbial or enters into parasynthetic combinations, as † free-bestowed, -bred, -footed, † -franchised, -garmented, † -miened, -minded, (-mindedness), -mouthed, -moving, -spirited, -swimming, -tongued, -working.

424 1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut. xiii. 75. Through his owne *freebestowed goodenesse.

425 1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, II. vi. 201.                    Oh indignity To my respectless *free-bred poesie.

426 1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. iii. 26.        For we will Fetters put vpon this feare, Which now goes too *free-footed.

427 1681.  Cotton, The Wonders of the Peake (ed. 4), 28. In these *free-franchis’d, subterranean Caves.

428 1848.  Hare, Guesses, Ser. II. (1859), 341. The sayings of the *free-garmented folks in Julius Cesar could not have come from the close-buttoned generation in Othello.

429 1647.  R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 215.        Let rich men do it, ore, and ore agen They’r *Free-mein’d, gallants, and fine Gentlemen.

430 1597.  Bacon, Ess., Regiment of Health (Arb.), 58. To be *free minded, and chearefully disposed at howers of meate and of sleepe and of exercise, is the best precept of long lasting.

431 1834.  T. Moore, Mem. (1856), VII. 41. ‘The highest gentlemen,’ Hughes said, are to be found in the Slave States, and seemed to argue as if they were more high and free-minded from having slaves to trample upon.

432 1579.  Knewstub, Confutation, 68 b. Out of the *free mindednes of their heat [? heart].

433 1647.  H. More, Song of Soul, II. iii. III. lviii.        Mirth, and Free-mindednesse, Simplicitie, Patience, Discreetnesse, and Benignitie.

434 1862.  Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), VII. lxii. 403. Agricola, who abstained from provoking his own fate by a vain pretence of *free-mouthed patriotism.

435 1835–6.  R. B. Todd, The Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, I. 688/2. The *free-moving young have very well developed eyes.

436 1677.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, IV. 429. Princes, who ought to be *free-spirited, generose, liberal.

437 1735.  Berkeley, Def. Free-thinking in Math., § 8. Much less can you hope that an illustrious seminary of learned men which hath produced so many free-spirited inquiries after truth, will at once enter into your passions and degenerate into a nest of bigots.

438 1894.  Pop. Sci. Monthly, XLV. June, 272. The subject of the investigation is a pelagic or *free-swimming Ascidian, confined to the high seas, and exceptional even in a group whose larvæ are plainly allied to vertebrates.

439 1599.  Massinger, etc., Old Law, IV. ii.                    A *free-tongued woman, And very excellent at telling secrets.

440 1877.  Dowden, Shaks. Prim., vi. 141. How remote from the free-tongued girls of Cleopatra.

441 a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., I. xiii. § 1 (1622), 135. Some of them both wittingly, and willingly, by a free-working will.

442 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 98. I became convinced of the necessity of making use of Portland, or some other free working stone for the inside work.

443 1892.  J. C. Blomfield, Hist. Heyford, 3. Light or free-working land may be ploughed more easily than that which is stiff and heavy.

444   b.  in derivative combinations based upon some recognized phrase in which the adjective is employed, as free-agency, -citizenship, -pressism, etc. (after free agent, free citizen, free press, etc.).

445 1786.  Burke, W. Hastings, Wks. 1842, II. 205. The restoration of the Mogul in some degree to the dignity of his situation, and to his *free-agency in the conduct of his affairs.

446 1860.  Pusey, The Minor Prophets, 324. He so wills to be freely loved by His intelligent creatures whom He formed for His love, that He does not force our free-agency.

447 1849.  Grote, Greece, II. lxix. (1862), VI. 216. To Xerxes, the conception of *free-citizenship—and of orderly self-sufficing courage, planted by a public discipline patriotic as well as equalising—was not merely repugnant, but incomprehensible.

448 1856.  Tait’s Mag., XXIII. Nov., 698/1. Our *free pressism is one of our peculiarities.

449   c.  in secondary combination with a verbal or agent noun (where free seems partly adverbial, qualifying the action understood), as free-acting, -handler, -handling, -seeker, -speaker, -speaking, -writer, -writing. So FREE-LIVER, -THINKER, etc.

450 1738–41.  Warburton, Div. Legat., App. 41. ’Tis the punishment of *free-acting to fear where no fear is.

451 1862.  F. Hall, Hindu Philos. Syst., 157, note. The torture to which Vijnána habitually—and especially in the Sánkhyasára—subjects the whole compass of the Vedánta nomenclature, reminds one forcibly of the sanctimonious vocabulary of *free-handlers and secularists among our contemporaries in Christian countries.

452 1875.  E. White, Life in Christ, II. xii. (1878), 144. If you will but nullify by criticism and *free-handling the truth on Atonement, you may retain all the rest of Christianity, and pass for liberal Christians, without hindrance from the chief enemy of Christ.

453 1693.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 56. A new sect is started up here called the *Freeseekers; one of the chiefe promoters is an empirick in physick, and pretend to greater revelations then the quakers.

454 1716.  Addison, Drummer, I. 10. Tins. I’m a Free-thinker, Child. Ab. I am sure you are a *Free-speaker!

455 1660.  Trial Regic., 49. Let there be *free-speaking by the Prisoner, and Counsel.

456 1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 65. In the Case of many Zealots, who have taken upon ’em to answer our modern *Free-Writers.

457 1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., II. § 6. In this most wise and happy age of Free-thinking, Free-speaking, *Free-writing, and Free-acting.

458   2.  In spec. phrases, etc.: † free alms = frank almoign (see ALMOIGN); free-chant Mus. (see quot.); free companion (see quot. and cf. FREE LANCE); so free company; † free fish (see quot.); free grace, the unmerited favor of God (whence † free gracian); † free holly (see quot.); free love, the doctrine of the right of free choice in sexual relations without the restraint of marriage or other legal obligation; whence free-lover, -loving, -lovism, etc.; free-milling a. Mining (of ores) easily reducible; free part Mus. (see quot.); free-stock (see quot. 1763); free-stuff Building (see quot.); † free suitor, one of the tenants entitled to attend a manorial court; † free ward, ? = L. libera custodia, detention not involving close or ignominious restraint (hence free-warder); † free-work, ? decorative mason-work.

459 1503–4.  Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 29, Preamb. To hold … of your Highnesse and of your heyres in *free & perpetuall Almes.

460 1628.  Coke, On Litt., 97 a. Free almes, (which was free from any limitation of certaintie).

461 1876.  Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, *Free chant is a form of recitative music for the Psalms and Canticles, in which a phrase, consisting of two chords only, is applied to each hemistich of the words.

462 1820.  Scott, Ivanhoe, viii. A knight who rode near him, the leader of a band of *Free Companions, or Condottieri; that is, of mercenaries belonging to no particular nation, but attached for the time to any prince by whom they were paid.

463 1872.  Ruskin, Fors Clav., II. xv. 11. Scott uses this very image to describe the look of chain-mail of a soldier in one of these *free companies.

464 1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 31 a. After Shel-fish succeedeth the *free-fish, so termed, because he wanteth this shelly bulwarke.

465 1651.  C. Cartwright, Certamen Religiosum, I. 108. How many, O Lord, doe with Pelagius fight for Free-will against Thy *Free-grace?

466 1871.  Carlyle, in Mrs. Carlyle’s Lett., I. 380. [She] was filled with the consciousness of free grace.

467 1647.  Saltmarsh, Sparkles of Glory (1847), 141. The *Free-Gracian. They that have discovered up into free-grace or the mystery of salvation [etc.].

468 1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, III. vii. 108. There is a kinde of Holly that is void of these Prickles and of gentler nature, and therefore called *Free-holly, which in my opinion is the best Holly.

469 1859.  J. G. Holland, Gold-foil, vi. 96. The *free-love doctrines and free-love practices of the day, the multiplication of cases of divorce, and the shameful infidelities that prevail, are all indications of the sensual tendencies of the age.

470 1872.  Tennyson, Last Tournament, 275. ‘Free love—free field—we love but while we may.’

471 1872.  F. Hall, Recent Exempl. False Phil., 88–9. There being, then, no married men, and, otherwise than in a sort of Pickwickian sense, no married women either, *free-lovers may, with good reason, look up.

472 1879.  Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, xviii. 318. The connection between the patriotic affection and every other affection which lifts us above emigrating rats and *free-loving baboons.

473 1864.  Realm, 17 Feb., 3. Advocates of *free-lovism, who believe the great evil of the world to be the indissolubility of marriage.

474 1895.  City Review, 3 July, 3/2. *Free milling ores are usually obtained from the auriferous quartz lying near the surface.

475 1876.  Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, *Free parts. Additional parts to a canon or fugue, having independent melodies, in order to strengthen or complete the harmony.

476 1719.  London & Wise, The Complete Gard’ner, IV. 52. It should be Grafted on a Quince-stock, because on a *Free-Stock the Fruit grows spotted, small, and crumpled.

477 1763.  J. Wheeler, Botan. & Gard. Dict., s.v. Pyrus.… All the sorts propagated in gardens, are produced by budding, or grafting them upon stocks of their own kind; which are commonly called free-stocks.

478 1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 223. *Free Stuff.—That timber or stuff which is quite clean, or without knots, and works easily, without tearing.

479 1620.  Wilkinson, Courts Leet & Baron, 108. Then call the *free suitors and dozonors one after another.

480 c. 1640.  J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1883), I. 195. Which in the Court of this Lord in Radclivestreet shee denyed; Whereupon the freesuters there gave iudgment vpon his life.

481 1637.  Rutherford, Lett., 23 Sept. (1891), 523. My spirit also is in *free ward. Ibid., 17 Sept. (1891), 516. Jesus hath a back-bond of all our temptations, that the free-warders shall come out by law and justice, in respect of the infinite and great sum that the Redeemer paid.

482 a. 1718.  Penn, Tracts, Wks. 1726, I. 726. An Hundred other unprofitable Pieces of State, such as Massy Plate, Rich China, Costly Pictures, Sculpture, *Free-work, Inlayings, and Painted Windows, of no Use in the Earth, only for Show and Sight.

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