Free

8 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Free \Free\ (fr[=e]), a. [Compar. {Freer} (-[~e]r); superl.
     {Freest} (-[e^]st).] [OE. fre, freo, AS. fre['o], fr[imac];
     akin to D. vrij, OS. & OHG. fr[imac], G. frei, Icel.
     fr[imac], Sw. & Dan. fri, Goth. freis, and also to Skr. prija
     beloved, dear, fr. pr[imac] to love, Goth. frij[=o]n. Cf.
     {Affray}, {Belfry}, {Friday}, {Friend}, {Frith} inclosure.]


     1. Exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under
        restraint, control, or compulsion; able to follow one's
        own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's
        own course of action; not dependent; at liberty.
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              That which has the power, or not the power, to
              operate, is that alone which is or is not free.
                                                    --Locke.
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     2. Not under an arbitrary or despotic government; subject
        only to fixed laws regularly and fairly administered, and
        defended by them from encroachments upon natural or
        acquired rights; enjoying political liberty.
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     3. Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control
        of parents, guardian, or master.
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     4. Not confined or imprisoned; released from arrest;
        liberated; at liberty to go.
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              Set an unhappy prisoner free.         --Prior.
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     5. Not subjected to the laws of physical necessity; capable
        of voluntary activity; endowed with moral liberty; -- said
        of the will.
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              Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
              Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love.
                                                    --Milton.
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     6. Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent.
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              My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. --Dryden.
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     7. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved;
        ingenuous; frank; familiar; communicative.
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              He was free only with a few.          --Milward.
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     8. Unrestrained; immoderate; lavish; licentious; -- used in a
        bad sense.
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              The critics have been very free in their censures.
                                                    --Felton.
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              A man may live a free life as to wine or women.
                                                    --Shelley.
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     9. Not close or parsimonious; liberal; open-handed; lavish;
        as, free with his money.
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     10. Exempt; clear; released; liberated; not encumbered or
         troubled with; as, free from pain; free from a burden; --
         followed by from, or, rarely, by of.
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               Princes declaring themselves free from the
               obligations of their treaties.       --Bp. Burnet.
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     11. Characteristic of one acting without restraint; charming;
         easy.
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     12. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping;
         spirited; as, a free horse.
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     13. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying
         certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special
         rights; -- followed by of.
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               He therefore makes all birds, of every sect,
               Free of his farm.                    --Dryden.
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     14. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed
         without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed,
         engrossed, or appropriated; open; -- said of a thing to
         be possessed or enjoyed; as, a free school.
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               Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
               For me as for you?                   --Shak.
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     15. Not gained by importunity or purchase; gratuitous;
         spontaneous; as, free admission; a free gift.
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     16. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending
         individual rights against encroachment by any person or
         class; instituted by a free people; -- said of a
         government, institutions, etc.
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     17. (O. Eng. Law) Certain or honorable; the opposite of
         {base}; as, free service; free socage. --Burrill.
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     18. (Law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common;
         as, a free fishery; a free warren. --Burrill.
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     19. Not united or combined with anything else; separated;
         dissevered; unattached; at liberty to escape; as, free
         carbonic acid gas; free cells.
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     {Free agency}, the capacity or power of choosing or acting
        freely, or without necessity or constraint upon the will.
        
  
     {Free bench} (Eng. Law), a widow's right in the copyhold
        lands of her husband, corresponding to dower in freeholds.
        
  
     {Free board} (Naut.), a vessel's side between water line and
        gunwale.
  
     {Free bond} (Chem.), an unsaturated or unemployed unit, or
        bond, of affinity or valence, of an atom or radical.
  
     {Free-borough men} (O.Eng. Law). See {Friborg}.
  
     {Free chapel} (Eccles.), a chapel not subject to the
        jurisdiction of the ordinary, having been founded by the
        king or by a subject specially authorized. [Eng.]
        --Bouvier.
  
     {Free charge} (Elec.), a charge of electricity in the free or
        statical condition; free electricity.
  
     {Free church}.
         (a) A church whose sittings are for all and without
             charge.
         (b) An ecclesiastical body that left the Church of
             Scotland, in 1843, to be free from control by the
             government in spiritual matters.
  
     {Free city}, or {Free town}, a city or town independent in
        its government and franchises, as formerly those of the
        Hanseatic league.
  
     {Free cost}, freedom from charges or expenses. --South.
  
     {Free and easy}, unconventional; unrestrained; regardless of
        formalities. [Colloq.] "Sal and her free and easy ways."
        --W. Black.
  
     {Free goods}, goods admitted into a country free of duty.
  
     {Free labor}, the labor of freemen, as distinguished from
        that of slaves.
  
     {Free port}. (Com.)
         (a) A port where goods may be received and shipped free
             of custom duty.
         (b) A port where goods of all kinds are received from
             ships of all nations at equal rates of duty.
  
     {Free public house}, in England, a tavern not belonging to a
        brewer, so that the landlord is free to brew his own beer
        or purchase where he chooses. --Simmonds.
  
     {Free school}.
         (a) A school to which pupils are admitted without
             discrimination and on an equal footing.
         (b) A school supported by general taxation, by
             endowmants, etc., where pupils pay nothing for
             tuition; a public school.
  
     {Free services} (O.Eng. Law), such feudal services as were
        not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to
        perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum
        of money, etc. --Burrill.
  
     {Free ships}, ships of neutral nations, which in time of war
        are free from capture even though carrying enemy's goods.
        
  
     {Free socage} (O.Eng. Law), a feudal tenure held by certain
        services which, though honorable, were not military.
        --Abbott.
  
     {Free States}, those of the United States before the Civil
        War, in which slavery had ceased to exist, or had never
        existed.
  
     {Free stuff} (Carp.), timber free from knots; clear stuff.
  
     {Free thought}, that which is thought independently of the
        authority of others.
  
     {Free trade}, commerce unrestricted by duties or tariff
        regulations.
  
     {Free trader}, one who believes in free trade.
  
     {To make free with}, to take liberties with; to help one's
        self to. [Colloq.]
  
     {To sail free} (Naut.), to sail with the yards not braced in
        as sharp as when sailing closehauled, or close to the
        wind.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Free \Free\, adv.
     1. Freely; willingly. [Obs.]
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              I as free forgive you
              As I would be forgiven.               --Shak.
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     2. Without charge; as, children admitted free.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Free \Free\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Freed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Freeing}.] [OE. freen, freoien, AS. fre['o]gan. See {Free},
     a.]
     1. To make free; to set at liberty; to rid of that which
        confines, limits, embarrasses, oppresses, etc.; to
        release; to disengage; to clear; -- followed by from, and
        sometimes by off; as, to free a captive or a slave; to be
        freed of these inconveniences. --Clarendon.
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              Our land is from the rage of tigers freed. --Dryden.
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              Arise, . . . free thy people from their yoke.
                                                    --Milton.
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     2. To remove, as something that confines or bars; to relieve
        from the constraint of.
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              This master key
              Frees every lock, and leads us to his person.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     3. To frank. [Obs.] --Johnson.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  free
       adj 1: able to act at will; not hampered; not under compulsion or
              restraint; "free enterprise"; "a free port"; "a free
              country"; "I have an hour free"; "free will"; "free of
              racism"; "feel free to stay as long as you wish"; "a
              free choice" [ant: {unfree}]
       2: unconstrained or not chemically bound in a molecule or not
          fixed and capable of relatively unrestricted motion; "free
          expansion"; "free oxygen"; "a free electron" [ant: {bound}]
       3: costing nothing; "complimentary tickets" [syn: {complimentary},
           {costless}, {gratis(p)}, {gratuitous}]
       4: not occupied or in use; "a free locker"; "a free lane"
       5: not fixed in position; "the detached shutter fell on him";
          "he pulled his arm free and ran" [syn: {detached}]
       6: not held in servitude; "after the Civil War he was a free
          man" [ant: {slave(a)}]
       7: not taken up by scheduled activities; "a free hour between
          classes"; "spare time on my hands" [syn: {spare}]
       8: not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been
          told"; "a free translation of the poem" [syn: {loose}, {liberal}]
       n : people who are free; "the home of the free and the brave"
           [syn: {free people}]
       adv : without restraint; "cows in India are running loose" [syn: {loose}]
       v 1: grant freedom to; free from confinement [syn: {liberate}, {release},
             {unloose}, {unloosen}, {loose}] [ant: {confine}]
       2: relieve from; "Rid the the house of pests" [syn: {rid}, {disembarrass}]
       3: remove or force out from a position; "The dentist dislodged
          the piece of food that had been stuck under my gums"; "He
          finally could free the legs of the earthquake victim who
          was buried in the rubble" [syn: {dislodge}] [ant: {lodge}]
       4: grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to;
          "She exempted me from the exam" [syn: {exempt}, {relieve}]
          [ant: {enforce}]
       5: make (information) available publication; "release the list
          with the names of the prisoners" [syn: {release}]
       6: free from obligations or duties [syn: {discharge}]
       7: free or remove obstruction from; "free a path across the
          cluttered floor" [syn: {disengage}] [ant: {obstruct}]
       8: let off the hook; "I absolve you from this responsibility"
          [syn: {absolve}, {justify}] [ant: {blame}]
       9: part with a possession or right; "I am relinquishing my
          bedroom to the long-term house guest"; "resign a claim to
          the throne" [syn: {release}, {relinquish}, {resign}, {give
          up}]
       10: make (assets) available; "release the holdings in the
           dictator's bank account" [syn: {unblock}, {unfreeze}, {release}]
           [ant: {freeze}, {freeze}]
       [also: {freest}, {freer}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  470 Moby Thesaurus words for "free":
     abandoned, able, above, absolve, accessible, acquit, adrift,
     affranchise, afloat, afoot and lighthearted, allowed, amnesty,
     approachable, arbitrary, artless, as a gift, as our guest,
     at large, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends, at will,
     autarchic, autarkic, autonomous, available, bald, bare, bighearted,
     bluff, blunt, bounteous, bountiful, break loose, break out, broad,
     brusque, candid, cast off, casual, charitable, cleanse,
     cleanse away, clear, clear of, cleared, communicative,
     complimentary, conversable, costless, cut loose, debauched,
     decontaminate, deliver, delivered, democratic, demonstrative,
     deobstruct, deserted, destigmatize, detach, detached, diffuse,
     direct, disburden, discharge, disclose, disclosed, discretional,
     discretionary, disembarrass, disembroil, disencumber, disengage,
     disengaged, disentangle, disenthrall, disinvolve, disjoin,
     dislodge, dismiss, dispense from, dispense with, disperse,
     dissipated, dissolute, doff, downright, ease, ease off, easy,
     easygoing, effusive, elective, eleemosynary, emancipate,
     emancipated, empty, enfranchise, enfranchised, escaped, except,
     exculpate, excuse, exempt, exempt from, exonerate, expansive,
     expenseless, explicit, expose, exposed, extra, extract, extricate,
     extricated, extroverted, fallow, fast, fled, floating, flown,
     footloose, footloose and fancy-free, for free, for love,
     for nothing, for the asking, forgive, forsaken, forthright, frank,
     frankhearted, free and easy, free as air, free for nothing,
     free from, free gratis, free of, free of charge, free of cost,
     free up, free will, free-born, free-speaking, free-spoken,
     free-tongued, freebie, freeborn, freed, freehanded, freehearted,
     freely, fugitive, furlough, gallant, gay, generous, genuine,
     get out, giftlike, give absolution, give dispensation from,
     give release, give respite, given, giving, gossipy, gracious,
     grant amnesty to, grant immunity, grant remission, gratis,
     gratuitous, gratuitously, greathearted, handsome, heart-to-heart,
     honest, hospitable, idle, in the clear, independent,
     individualistic, informal, ingenuous, intermit, jobless, justify,
     large, largehearted, lavish, leisure, leisured, let go, let loose,
     let off, let out, let up, liberal, liberate, liberated, licentious,
     loose, loosely, loosen, lumpen, magnanimous, manifest, manumit,
     munificent, naked, natural, newsy, nonmandatory, nonpros, off,
     off duty, off work, offered, on one, on parole, on the house,
     on the loose, open, open-handed, openhanded, openhearted, openly,
     optional, out, out of, out of employ, out of harness, out of work,
     outgoing, outright, outspoken, pardon, parole, patefy, permitted,
     plain, plain-spoken, princely, proffered, profligate, profuse,
     purge, purge away, quash the charge, quit, quit of, rakehell,
     rakehellish, rakehelly, rakish, ransom, recover, redeem, redeemed,
     relax, relaxed, release, released, relieve, remise, remit, remove,
     reprieve, rescue, rescued, retired, retrieve, reveal, rickety, rid,
     rid of, round, runaway, salvage, save, save the necessity, scatter,
     scot-free, self-acting, self-active, self-determined,
     self-determining, self-directing, self-governed, self-governing,
     self-revealing, self-revelatory, semiretired, separate,
     set at large, set at liberty, set free, shaky, shed of, shrive,
     shut of, sincere, slack, slack off, slacken, sociable, sovereign,
     spare, spontaneous, spring, sprung, stintless, straight,
     straight-out, straightforward, suspend, take off, talkative,
     tear loose, tenantless, to his heirs, transparent, unanchored,
     unasked, unattached, unbar, unbesought, unbidden, unbind, unblock,
     unbolt, unbought, unbound, unbridled, unbuckle, unburden, unbutton,
     uncage, uncalled-for, uncase, unceremonious, unchain, unchained,
     unchecked, unclasp, unclench, unclog, unclogged, unclosed,
     unclutch, unclutter, uncoerced, uncommitted, uncompelled,
     unconditional, unconditioned, unconfined, unconstrained,
     uncontrolled, uncork, uncover, uncovered, uncurtain, undo, undone,
     undrape, unemployable, unemployed, unencumbered, unengaged,
     unenslaved, unequivocal, unfasten, unfastened, unfetter,
     unfettered, unfilled, unfixed, unfold, unforced, unfoul, unglue,
     ungrudging, unguarded, unhampered, unhidden, unhindered, unimpeded,
     uninfluenced, uninhabited, uninhibited, uninvited, uninvolved,
     unknot, unlace, unlatch, unleash, unlock, unloose, unloosen,
     unmanned, unobstructed, unoccupied, unpaid-for, unpeopled, unplug,
     unpopulated, unpressured, unprompted, unravel, unrepressed,
     unrequested, unrequired, unreserved, unreservedly, unrestrained,
     unrestricted, unreticent, unroll, unscramble, unseal, unsecretive,
     unselfish, unshackle, unshackled, unsheathe, unshrinking, unshut,
     unsilent, unsnarl, unsolicited, unsought, unsparing, unstaffed,
     unstick, unstinted, unstinting, unstop, unstopped, unstrap,
     unstuck, unsuppressed, untaken, untangle, untaxed, untenanted,
     untended, untie, untied, unused, unveil, unwrap, vacant, vindicate,
     voluntary, volunteer, weigh anchor, well out of, whitewash,
     wide-open, wild, willful, with abandon, withdraw the charge,
     without, without charge, without restraint, without stint
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  free
       
          See {free software}, {free variable}.
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  FREE ships. By this is understood neutral vessels. Free ships are sometimes 
  considered as making free goods. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  FREE. Not bound to servitude; at liberty to act as one pleases. This word is 
  put in opposition to slave. 
       2. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
  several states, which may be included within this Union, according to their 
  respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number 
  of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and 
  excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. Const. U. S. 
  art. 1, s. 2. 3. It is also put in contradistinction to being bound as an 
  apprentice; as, an apprentice becomes free on attaining the age of twenty-
  one years. 
       4. The Declaration of Independence asserts that all men are born free, 
  and in at sense, the term includes all mankind.