Liberty sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Liberty sb. 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. 1903, rev. 2024. Liberty sb. Also 4–6 lib-, lyberte(e, 5–7 -tie, -tye, 6 libartye. [a. F. liberté (14th c. in Littré) = Pr. libertat, It. libertà, Sp. libertad, Pg. liberdade, ad. L. lībertāt-em, f. līber free.]

1   1.  Exemption or release from captivity, bondage or slavery.

2 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Manciple’s T., 70. His libertee this brid desireth ay.

3 c. 1425.  Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1272. By duresse & constreynt to put thys creature Cleerly from hys liberte.

4 1514.  Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), p. xlix. The caytif beggar hath meate & libertie.

5 1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xvii[i]. 19. He brought me forth … in to lyberte.

6 1611.  Bible, Isa. lxi. 1. To proclaime libertie to the captiues.

7 1727.  De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. iii. (1840), 71. Moses and Aaron were to assure Pharaoh that God sent them, and they were in his Name to demand liberty for the Children of Israel.

8 1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., vii. 42. She gazed … on the sullen, surging waters that lay between her and liberty.

9   b.  In religious use: Freedom from the bondage of sin, or of the law.

10 1382.  Wyclif, 2 Cor. iii. 17. Forsoth where is the spirit of God, there is liberte.

11 c. 1410.  Hoccleve, Mother of God, 76. Þat vn-to libertee Fro thraldam han vs qwit.

12 1520.  Tindale, Jas. i. 25. Whosoever loketh in the parfait lawe off libertie, and continueth there in.

13 1543.  Becon, Nosegay, K vj b. This spiritual liberte maketh vs not free from our obedience & dutye towarde the temporal power.

14 1604.  Hieron, Wks., I. 482. This libertie, which Christians haue, is a spirituall libertie, a heauenly liberty, a liberty of the soule … which setteth the soule at liberty from destruction.

15 1823.  C. Simeon, in W. Carus, Mem. & Life (1847), 587. As to my opinion about the boundaries of Christian liberty and Christian duty, I should sin against God if I dissembled it.

16   2.  Exemption or freedom from arbitrary, despotic, or autocratic rule or control. Cap of liberty: see CAP sb.1 4 f.

17 1484.  Caxton, Fables of Æsop, II. i. Fredome and lyberte is better than ony gold or syluer.

18 1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Libertas, To defende the libertie of the common weale.

19 1649.  Culpepper, Phys. Direct., A, The Prize which We now … play for is The Liberty of the Subject.

20 1654.  Bramhall, Just Vind., i. (1661), 4. They … vindicate that liberty left them as an inheritance by their Ancestours, from the incroachments … of the Court of Rome.

21 1690.  Locke, Govt., II. iv. § 22 Wks. 1727, II. 165. The Liberty of Man, in Society, is to be under no other Legislative Power, but that established by Consent in the Commonwealth.

22 1759.  Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 429. Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

23 1789.  Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 105. You hope, sir, that I think the French deserving of liberty. I certainly do.

24 1816.  J. Scott, Vis. Paris (ed. 5), p. xxxiv. Liberty is the chief distinction of England from other European countries.

25 1845.  Mill, Ess., II. 244. The modern spirit of liberty is the love of individual independence.

26 1854.  J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. xxvii. 493. Be careful not to suffer liberty to degenerate into license, or anarchy to take the place of order.

27 1874.  Green, Short Hist., viii. § 5. 500. Eliot died, the first martyr of English liberty, in the Tower.

28   b.  Natural liberty: the state in which every one is free to act as he thinks fit, subject only to the laws of nature. Civil liberty: natural liberty so far restricted by established law as is expedient or necessary for the good of the community. Liberty of conscience: the system of things in which a member of a state is permitted to follow without interference the dictates of his conscience in the profession of any religious creed or the exercise of any mode of worship. Liberty of the press: the recognition by the state of the right of any one to print and publish whatever he pleases without previous governmental permission.

29   The liberty of the press is not understood to imply absence of liability to judicial punishment for the publication of libellous or criminal matter, nor to be inconsistent with the right of the courts to prohibit a particular publication as involving a wrong to some person.

30 a. 1572.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 364. To suffer euerie man to leaf at libertie of conscience.

31 1580.  J. Hay, in Cath. Tract. (1901), 61. Quhy in the beginning of your new Euangell preached ye libertie of conscience.

32 1601.  R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 250. That he woulde suffer them to enjoy the libertie of their conscience.

33 1644.  Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 31. When complaints are freely heard, deeply consider’d, and speedily reform’d, then is the utmost bound of civill liberty attain’d, that wise men looke for.

34 1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxi. 108. Naturall liberty, which only is properly called liberty.

35 1678.  Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, V. i. § 98. 4687. In the treaty of Passaw was granted Liberty of Conscience to the Professors of the Augustane Confession.

36 1769.  Blackstone, Comm., IV. 151. The liberty of the press is … essential to the nature of a free state.

37 1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl., 2 June, Let. ii. As for the liberty of the press,… it must be restrained.

38 1832.  Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. vi. 281. Political or civil liberty is the liberty from legal obligation which is left or granted by a sovereign government to any of its subjects.

39 1858.  [see CONSCIENCE 4].

40   3.  The condition of being able to act in any desired way without hindrance or restraint; faculty or power to do as one likes.

41 c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, V. 285. It lay not in his libertee No-wher to gon. Ibid. (c. 1386), Clerk’s T., 89. I me reioysed of my libertee, That selde tyme is founde in mariage.

42 1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 180. He kepte his liberte To do justice and equite.

43 1530.  Palsgr., 298. Suche as writeth in ryme use in this thyng their lyberte.

44 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. i. 7. A man is Master of his libertie.

45 1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxi. § 8. 118. The Idea of Liberty is the idea of a Power in any Agent to do or forbear any particular Action.

46 1781.  Cowper, Truth, 195. Thought, word, and deed, his liberty evince, His freedom is the freedom of a prince.

47 1831.  Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, I. 45. I’ve liberty now—not under the pennant—do as I like.

48 1849.  Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, vii. § 1. 184. If there be any one principle … more sternly than another imprinted on every atom of the visible creation, that principle is not Liberty but Law.

49 1872.  De Morgan, Budget Paradoxes, 464. We have a glorious liberty in England of owning neither dictionary, grammar nor spelling-book.

50 1873.  Hamerton, Intell. Life, X. vii. (1876), 372. The liberty of the wild bee.

51   b.  Philos. The condition of being free from the control of fate or necessity; = FREEDOM 5.

52   (Now chiefly in expressed antithesis to necessity; the phrase liberty of the will occurs, but freedom is more common in this connection.)

53 1538.  Starkey, England, I. ii. 30. Many men vtturly take away the lyberty of wyl.

54 1654.  Hobbes (title), Of Libertie and Necessitie.

55 1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. Liberty of Will, franc Arbitre.

56 1814.  Cary, Dante, Par., V. 21. Supreme of gifts which God … gave Of his free bounty … Was liberty of will.

57 1868.  Bain, Mental & Mor. Sci., IV. xi. (chapter-heading), Liberty and Necessity. Ibid., 400. These terms are supposed to involve … the Liberty of the Will.

58   4.  Free opportunity, range or scope to do or † of doing something; hence, leave, permission.

59 14[?].  Epyphanye, in Tundale’s Vis. (1843), 112. For they in hart rejoysed not a lyte On hym to loke that they have lybarte.

60 c. 1430.  Lydg., Reason & Sens. (E.E.T.S.), 131. A lady callyd Curtesy, whiche graunted him lyberte to goo wher him lyst.

61 1463.  Bury Wills (Camden), 22. I will she haue hire liberte at alle leffull tymes to go in to the chapell.

62 1526.  Tindale, Acts xxvii. 3. Iulius … gave him liberte to goo vnto his frendes.

63 1530.  Palsgr., 239/1. Lybertie leave, faculté, liberté.

64 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 53. Youthfull men, Who giue their eies the liberty of gazing. Ibid. (1604), Oth., II. ii. 10. There is full libertie of Feasting from this present houre.

65 1642.  Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. (1896), 25. There is no liberty for causes to operate in a loose and stragling way.

66 1671.  Milton, P. R., I. 365. I enjoy Large liberty to round this Globe of Earth.

67 1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XVI. viii. You have my full liberty to publish them.

68 1796.  Bp. Watson, Apol. Bible (ed. 2), 190. You have the liberty of doing so.

69 1833.  Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, i. 4. Bid him come in and wait for liberty to talk.

70 1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, iii. Have they no liberty, no will, no right to speak?

71   b.  Unrestricted use of, or access to, permission to go anywhere within the limits of: chiefly in phr. to have the liberty of. (Cf. FREEDOM 13 b.) ? Obs.

72 1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. ii. 156. He hath euermore had the liberty of the prison.

73 1621.  Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), 22. He desyres not to be at libertye, but to have the libertye of the house.

74 1630.  Wadsworth, Pilgr., viii. 90. I was freed from the Cage … and had the liberty of the dungeon.

75 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. viii. (1840), 133. I might be more happy in this Solitary Condition, than I should have been in a Liberty of Society. Ibid. (1724), Mem. Cavalier (1840), 270. They allowed him the liberty of the town.

76 1796.  Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., iv. (1813), 12. He was now provided with a good house and the liberty of a manor.

77   c.  Naut. Leave of absence. (Cf. liberty man in 10.)

78 1758.  J. Blake, Plan Mar. Syst., 12. They shall be allowed to complete the remainder of the aforesaid time of liberty. Ibid., 13. The seaman ashore on liberty.

79 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Breaking liberty, not returning at the appointed time.

80   5.  Unrestrained action, conduct or expression; freedom of behavior or speech, beyond what is granted or recognized as proper; licence. (Occas. personified.) Now only in particularized sense: An instance of freedom, an overstepping or setting aside of rules; a licence.

81 1558.  Knox, First Blast (Arb.), 7. John the Baptist, whom Herode … had beheaded for the libertie of his tonge.

82 1562.  Fills, Stat. Geneva, Ep. Ded. *iv b. They charge vs … with libertie and licenciousnesse.

83 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., I. ii. 102. Nimble Iuglers … Disguised Cheaters, prating Mountebankes; And manie such like liberties of sinne. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., I. iii. 29. Libertie plucks Iustice by the nose.

84 1638.  R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. III.), 124. These liberties are not sufferable in the freest conversations, they draw on other more dangerous liberties.

85 1670.  Cotton, Espernon, I. IV. 146. A Captain that very well understood … the pest of great Bodies to be sloath and liberty, which debauch Souldiers from their Duty.

86 1704.  Swift, T. Tub, Postscr., Wks. 1760, I. p. xvii. Using no other liberties, besides that of expunging certain passages.

87 1709.  Felton, Classics (1718), 18. The Poem [Æneid] is still more Wonderful, since without the Liberty of the Grecian Poets, the Diction is so Great and Noble, so Clear … that [etc.].

88 1727.  Gay, Begg. Op., I. vii. If I allow captain Macheath some trifling liberties.

89 1868.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. vii. 119. Those who may venture on liberties with the men of fargone times which to the historian are forbidden.

90 1881.  Jowett, Thucyd., I. Introd. 11. Thucydides has rarely … allowed himself liberties not to be found somewhere in other writers.

91   b.  Phr. To take the liberty to do or of doing something: to go so far beyond the bounds of civility or propriety, be so presumptuous as to (etc.). To take liberties: to be unduly or improperly familiar (with a person; sometimes euphemistic); to use freedom in dealing with (rules, facts, etc.).

92 1625.  Bacon, Ess., Friendship (Arb.), 169. Mæcenas took the liberty to tell him that [etc.].

93 1704.  N. N., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnassus, II. 127. Catullus … took the Liberty to call the Nobleman Bastard.

94 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. x. (1840), 220. The poor man had taken liberty with a wench.

95 1739.  Wks. of Learned, I. 83, note. Mr. Dryden … takes great Liberties with the Authors he translates.

96 1749.  Power Pros. Numbers, 71. The first Foot of the first Line … is defective by two short Syllables; which is a Liberty seldom taken.

97 1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 101. I will … take the liberty to give them … my opinion.

98 1824.  Mrs. Sherwood, Waste Not, II. 9. Mayhap you have made a stolen march, and taken what they call thieves’ liberty.

99 1883.  Gilmour, Mongols, xxiii. 286. He thought I was taking some undue liberty with his dignity.

100   6.  As a feminine personification; with reference to the preceding senses, esp. sense 2.

101 1508.  Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 175. Will, Wantonness, Renoun, and Libertee.

102 1632.  Milton, L’Allegro, 36. The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty.

103 1768.  Sterne, Sent. Journ. (1775), 87. (Hotel at Paris) Liberty … no tint of words can spot thy snowy mantle.

104 1798.  Coleridge, France: An Ode, 89. O Liberty! with profitless endeavour Have I pursued thee.

105 1818.  Hallam, Mid. Ages (1872), I. 92. Liberty never wore a more unamiable countenance than among these burghers, who abused the strength she gave them.

106   7.  Law. a. A privilege or exceptional right granted to a subject by the sovereign power; = FRANCHISE sb. 2 b.

107 [1166–7.  Pipe Roll 13 Hen. II. (1889), 107. Burgenses de Bedeford’ reddunt Computum de. xl. marcis pro Carta Regis habenda, ut sint in libertate Burgensium de Oxineforde.]

108 1404.  Rolls of Parlt., III. 549. Als ferre as he may by the lawe of his land, or by his prerogatif, or libertee. Ibid. (1414), IV. 22. So as hit hath ever be thair liberte & fredom, that thar sholde no Statut no Lawe be made oflasse than they yaf therto their assent.

109 1557.  [see FRANCHISE sb. 2 b].

110 1612.  Davies, Why Ireland, etc. (1787), 106. Then had the Lord of Meath the same royal liberty in that territory.

111 a. 1626.  Bacon, Max. & Uses Com. Law (1635), 8. Many men of good quality have attained by charter … within mannors of their owne liberty of keeping law-dayes.

112 1647.  Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T., 13. A grant of liberty from Queene Mary to Henry Ratcliffe.

113 1710.  Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, iv. 195. Grant to be held by inheritance and with perpetual liberty.

114 1767.  Blackstone, Comm., II. iii. 31.

115 1848.  Wharton, Law Lex., s.v., A liberty to hold pleas in a court of one’s own.

116   b.  pl. († rarely collect. sing.) Privileges, immunities or rights enjoyed by prescription or by grant.

117 [1180.  Mag. Rot. 26 Hen. II., Rot. 56, in Madox, Hist. Exchequer (1711), 273. Homines de Preston reddunt computum de C marcis, Pro habenda Carta Regis, ut habeant Libertates quas Homines de Novo Castro habent.]

118 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 162. Þe lawis & þe libertes of holy chirche.

119 1467.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 392. That he be disfraunchised of his libertees.

120 1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1491/2. I thought meet to passe ouer the antiquitie of … Douer, with the liberties thereof.

121 1602.  Fulbecke, Pandectes, 55. The Heluetians did bestow the liberties of their citie vpon Lewis the eleuenth.

122 1607.  Shaks., Cor., II. iii. 223. They haue chose a Consull, that will from them take Their Liberties.

123 1669.  Marvell, Corr., cxxix. Wks. 1872–5, II. 294. After long debate what to do with the Lords in point of our Libertys now.

124 1855.  Prescott, Philip II., I. v. (1857), 76. The liberties of the commons were crushed at the fatal battle of Villalar.

125   c.  † Hence occas. a person’s domain or property. The district over which a person’s or corporation’s privilege extends. Also (in England before 1850), a district within the limits of a county, but exempt from the jurisdiction of the sheriff, and having a separate commission of the peace. (See also quot. 1876.)

126   Liberty or liberties of a city: the district, extending beyond the bounds of the city, which is subject to the control of the municipal authority. Liberties of a prison (esp. the Fleet and the Marshalsea in London): the limits outside the prison, within which prisoners were sometimes permitted to reside.

127 1455.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 325/2. Within ye said Citee, and Libertee of the same.

128 1510.  in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), 210. Commaundement gyven to the Surgeons of this Citie, that they … dwell within the libertie of this Citie.

129 1535.  Coverdale, 1 Macc. x. 43. Who so euer they be that fle vnto the temple at Ierusalem or within the liberties therof [Vulg. in omnibus finibus ejus].

130 1596.  Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 623/1. To distrayne the goodes of any Irish, being found within theyr libertye, or but passing through theyr townes.

131 1659.  Rushw., Hist. Coll., I. 199. Within and without the Walls of the City of London, and in the Liberties and Nine out Parishes.

132 1724.  Swift, Drapier’s Lett., Wks. 1755, V. II. 128. I will begin the experiment in the liberty of St. Patrick’s.

133 1778.  Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Warwicksh., This county … is divided into four hundreds and one liberty.

134 1787.  Generous Attachment, I. 144. The worthy knight demanded … what she meant by strolling into his liberty at that hour of the night.

135 1792.  Chipman, Rep. (1871), 11. Bond … conditioned, that Joel Ely, than a prisoner … should not depart the liberties of said prison.

136 1848.  Dickens, Dombey, iv. The offices of Dombey and Son were within the liberties of the City of London, and within hearing of Bow-Bells.

137 1876.  Digby, Real Prop., I. ii. § 3. 52. When a large district comprising several manors was held by a single lord in whom was vested by grant or long usage the complete jurisdiction of the hundred, the district was called a liberty or honour.

138   8.  Liberty of the tongue (see quot.). So F. liberté.

139 1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Liberty of the tongue, in the manege, is a void space left in the middle of a bit, to give place to the tongue of a horse, made by the bit’s arching in the middle, and rising towards the roof of the mouth…. In forging the bit, care must be taken not to make the liberty too high, or at least tickle the palate.

140   9.  Governed by at, forming advb. or predicative phrase. † a. At one’s liberty (later at liberty): at one’s own choice, as one pleases, ‘ad libitum.’

141 1426.  Bp. Beaufort, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. I. 102. Att his owen fredam and libertee … for to mowe passe the See in parfourmyng of the said avowe.

142 1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 8386. Thow shalt no thyng do … But at thyn owne lyberte.

143 1480.  Bury Wills (Camden), 63. Wherof my seyd chauntry priest to be one of them at his liberte.

144 1524.  Hen. VIII., in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 220. To … were his bonet on his hed … aswel in our presence as elleswhere, at his libertie.

145 1627.  C. Lever, Q. Eliz. Teares, xlv. (Grosart), 80. Painefull to get, but lost at libertie.

146   † b.  At (a person’s) liberty: in his power or at his disposal. Obs.

147 c. 1477.  Caxton, Jason, 111 b. Yf I nowe had her at my liberte I sholde make her to deye a cruell deth.

148 1542–3.  Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 27 § 77. The shireffe … maie awarde a Capias ad satisfaciendum … or elles a Fieri fac. at libertie of the partie pursuant.

149 1547.  Homilies, I. Falling fr. God, II. (1859), 86. They take this for a great benefit of God, to have all at their own liberty.

150 1642.  trans. Perkins’ Prof. Bk., v. § 319. 141. It is at the Libertie of the wife to have dower.

151 1698.  Norris, Pract. Disc., IV. 303. ’Tis at their Liberty whether they will do any Works of Mercy … or not.

152   c.  At liberty (in early use † at one’s or one’s own liberty, at all, good, liberty): not in captivity or confinement; esp. in phr. to set at liberty, to liberate, free. Also, free to act, move, think, etc.; const. to with inf., occas. with clause.

153 c. 1430.  Lydg., Compl. Bl. Knt., 661. Ye may togider speke What so ye liste, at good libertee.

154 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, VI. iii. Were I at my lyberte as I was.

155 1485.  Caxton, Pref. to Malory’s Arthur, 3. But for to … byleue that al is trewe that is conteyned herin, ye be at your lyberte. Ibid. (1489), Faytes of A., III. viii. 184. A man is not atte hys owne lyberte that byndeth hym self to another.

156 1526.  Tindale, Luke iv. 18. Frely to sett att liberte them that are brused.

157 1585.  Fetherstone, Calvin on Acts i. 5. The Lord openeth the prison for them that they may be at libertie to fulfil their function.

158 1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., I. i. 133. More pitty, that the Eagles should be mew’d, Whiles Kites and Buzzards play at liberty.

159 1611.  Bible, Transl. Pref., 11. They … had rather haue their iudgements at libertie in differences of readings, then to be captiuated to one.

160 1692.  R. L’Estrange, Fables, Life Æsop (1708), 2. The Reader is at Liberty what to Believe and what Not.

161 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 109, ¶ 1. Some particular Matters, which I am not at Liberty to report.

162 1758.  Reid, trans. Macquer’s Chem., I. 253. Its Acid being set at liberty.

163 1857.  Trollope, Three Clerks, xlv. ‘If you knew it was coming … why didn’t you tell a chap?’ ‘I was not at liberty,’ said Mr. Snape, looking very wise.

164 1866.  J. Martineau, Ess., I. 26. He is quite at liberty to think so.

165 1870.  Addison Alexander, in Life, II. 709. In the crisis or acme of the eloquence his gown fell half off; his right arm was at liberty; and he assumed the look of a demoniac fighting with a fiend.

166 1886.  ‘Hugh Conway,’ Living or Dead, viii. You are at perfect liberty to repeat my words to him.

167   d.  At liberty: (of persons or things) unoccupied, disengaged.

168 1847.  C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, v. I. 75. I dressed as well as I could for shivering, and washed when there was a basin at liberty.

169 1853.  Mrs. Gaskell, Cranford, i. 4. I have no doubt they will call: so be at liberty after twelve.

170   10.  attrib. and Comb., as liberty-monger; liberty-loving, -taking adjs.; † liberty-boy, (a) Anglo-Irish (see quot. 1765 and cf. liberty-corps); (b) transf. or allusive, a noisy zealot for liberty; liberty-cap = cap of liberty (see CAP sb.1 4 f); liberty corps (see quot.); liberty-day Naut., a day on which part of a ship’s crew are allowed to go ashore; liberty hall (see HALL sb. 11); liberty-liquor, ‘spirits formerly allowed to be purchased when seamen had visitors; now forbidden’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867); liberty-man Naut., a sailor having leave to go ashore; liberty-party U.S. Hist., a political party that made the abolition of slavery its leading principle; liberty-pole, a tall mast or staff with a Phrygian cap or other symbol of liberty on the top; † liberty post, a post marking the boundary of the Liberties of the City of London; liberty-ticket Naut., ‘a document specifying the date and extent of the leave granted to a seaman or marine proceeding on his private affairs’ (Smyth); liberty tree = tree of liberty; † liberty-wife, a mistress.

171 1760.  Foote, Minor, Introd., Wks. 1799, I. 229. A Dublin mechanic … heading the *liberty-boys in a skirmish on Ormond Quay.

172 1765.  Ann. Reg., 120. Several soldiers and the liberty boys (that is, journeymen weavers living in the earl of Meath’s liberties adjoining to the city) broke open Newgate.

173 1788.  V. Knox, Winter Even., I. II. xvii. 223. A Greek political ballad, which used to be sung by the Athenian liberty-boys.

174 1827.  Blackw. Mag., XXII. 593. Enacting the part of liberty-boys.

175 1887.  Lecky, Eng. in 18th C., VI. 360. The *‘Liberty’ corps of the volunteers—so called because it was recruited in the Earl of Meath’s liberties.

176 1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xii. 27. Sunday … is the *liberty-day among merchantmen.

177 1897.  Daily News, 23 Jan., 7/2. The *liberty-loving elements of our town.

178 1758.  J. Blake, Plan Mar. Syst., 18. Such *liberty-men … shall … forfeit all benefit from their liberty ticket.

179 c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 9. Pinnaces are the boats usually selected for … carrying working parties, liberty men, &c.

180 1702.  De Foe, Test. Ch. Eng. Loyalty, in Somers Tracts, 4th Collect. (1751), III. 14. Stubborn, refractory, *Liberty-Mongers.

181 1828.  Syd. Smith, Mem. (1855), II. 290. Without making ourselves the liberty-mongers of all Europe.

182 1843.  Fall River Monitor, 28 Nov., 2/2. The *Liberty party should now be the first in the field.

183 1843.  Whittier, What is Slavery? Prose Wks. 1889, III. 105. It is against this system, in its active operation upon three millions of our countrymen, that the Liberty Party is, for the present, directing all its efforts.

184 1775–83.  Thacker, Mil. Jrnl. (1823), 22. *Liberty poles were erected in almost every town and village … under which the tory is compelled to sign a recantation.

185 1789.  Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), II. 70. The soldiers were then paraded in triumph to the Palais Royal, which is now the liberty pole of this city.

186 1644.  Nye, Gunnery (1670), 50. The *liberty post standing amongst the desolate ruines of Fore-gate street.

187 1836.  [Mrs. Cheap], Going to Service, xiii. 160–1. If you are not in any dangerous situation from ungodly fellow-servants or *liberty-taking men-servants.

188 1758.  *Liberty ticket [see quot. for liberty man].

189 1776.  A. Adams, in J. Adams’ Fam. Lett. (1876), 180. I … ventured just as far as the stump of *Liberty Tree.

190 1825.  Sweet William & Yng. Colonel, ii. in Child, Ballads, II. 291/1. I’ll keep her for my *liberty-wife.

191   Hence † Libertyless a., deprived of liberty.

192 1643.  T. Case, Serm., in Kerr, Covt. & Covenanters (1895), 248. Thy sword … has made many a faithful minister libertyless.

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