able to act at will; not hampered; not under compulsion or restraint
<adj.all> 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
unconstrained or not chemically bound in a molecule or not fixed and capable of relatively unrestricted motion
<adj.all> free expansion free oxygen a free electron
not held in servitude
<adj.all> after the Civil War he was a free man [ adv ]
without restraint
<adv.all> cows in India are running loose [ adj ]
costing nothing
<adj.all> complimentary tickets free admission
not occupied or in use
<adj.all> a free locker a free lane
not fixed in position
<adj.all> the detached shutter fell on him he pulled his arm free and ran
not taken up by scheduled activities
<adj.all> a free hour between classes spare time on my hands
completely wanting or lacking
<adj.all> writing barren of insight young recruits destitute of experience innocent of literary merit the sentence was devoid of meaning
not literal
<adj.all> a loose interpretation of what she had been told a free translation of the poem
Free \Free\ (fr[=e]), a. [Compar. {Freer} (-[~e]r); superl. {Freest} (-[e^]st).] [OE. fre, freo, AS. fre['o], fr[=i]; akin to D. vrij, OS. & OHG. fr[=i], G. frei, Icel. fr[=i], Sw. & Dan. fri, Goth. freis, and also to Skr. prija beloved, dear, fr. pr[=i] to love, Goth. frij[=o]n. Cf. {Affray}, {Belfry}, {Friday}, {Friend}, {Frith} inclosure.] 1. Exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under restraint, control, or compulsion; able to follow one's own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's own course of action; not dependent; at liberty.
That which has the power, or not the power, to operate, is that alone which is or is not free. --Locke.
2. Not under an arbitrary or despotic government; subject only to fixed laws regularly and fairly administered, and defended by them from encroachments upon natural or acquired rights; enjoying political liberty.
3. Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control of parents, guardian, or master.
4. Not confined or imprisoned; released from arrest; liberated; at liberty to go.
Set an unhappy prisoner free. --Prior.
5. Not subjected to the laws of physical necessity; capable of voluntary activity; endowed with moral liberty; -- said of the will.
Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love. --Milton.
6. Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent.
My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. --Dryden.
7. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved; ingenuous; frank; familiar; communicative.
He was free only with a few. --Milward.
8. Unrestrained; immoderate; lavish; licentious; -- used in a bad sense.
The critics have been very free in their censures. --Felton.
A man may live a free life as to wine or women. --Shelley.
9. Not close or parsimonious; liberal; open-handed; lavish; as, free with his money.
10. Exempt; clear; released; liberated; not encumbered or troubled with; as, free from pain; free from a burden; -- followed by from, or, rarely, by of.
Princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties. --Bp. Burnet.
11. Characteristic of one acting without restraint; charming; easy.
12. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited; as, a free horse.
13. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; -- followed by of.
He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, Free of his farm. --Dryden.
14. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed, engrossed, or appropriated; open; -- said of a thing to be possessed or enjoyed; as, a free school.
Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me as for you? --Shak.
15. Not gained by importunity or purchase; gratuitous; spontaneous; as, free admission; a free gift.
16. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending individual rights against encroachment by any person or class; instituted by a free people; -- said of a government, institutions, etc.
17. (O. Eng. Law) Certain or honorable; the opposite of {base}; as, free service; free socage. --Burrill.
18. (Law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common; as, a free fishery; a free warren. --Burrill.
19. Not united or combined with anything else; separated; dissevered; unattached; at liberty to escape; as, free carbonic acid gas; free cells.
{Free agency}, the capacity or power of choosing or acting freely, or without necessity or constraint upon the will.
{Free bench} (Eng. Law), a widow's right in the copyhold lands of her husband, corresponding to dower in freeholds.
{Free board} (Naut.), a vessel's side between water line and gunwale.
{Free bond} (Chem.), an unsaturated or unemployed unit, or bond, of affinity or valence, of an atom or radical.
{Free-borough men} (O.Eng. Law). See {Friborg}.
{Free chapel} (Eccles.), a chapel not subject to the jurisdiction of the ordinary, having been founded by the king or by a subject specially authorized. [Eng.] --Bouvier.
{Free charge} (Elec.), a charge of electricity in the free or statical condition; free electricity.
{Free church}. (a) A church whose sittings are for all and without charge. (b) An ecclesiastical body that left the Church of Scotland, in 1843, to be free from control by the government in spiritual matters.
{Free city}, or {Free town}, a city or town independent in its government and franchises, as formerly those of the Hanseatic league.
{Free cost}, freedom from charges or expenses. --South.
{Free and easy}, unconventional; unrestrained; regardless of formalities. [Colloq.] ``Sal and her free and easy ways.'' --W. Black.
{Free goods}, goods admitted into a country free of duty.
{Free labor}, the labor of freemen, as distinguished from that of slaves.
{Free port}. (Com.) (a) A port where goods may be received and shipped free of custom duty. (b) A port where goods of all kinds are received from ships of all nations at equal rates of duty.
{Free public house}, in England, a tavern not belonging to a brewer, so that the landlord is free to brew his own beer or purchase where he chooses. --Simmonds.
{Free school}. (a) A school to which pupils are admitted without discrimination and on an equal footing. (b) A school supported by general taxation, by endowmants, etc., where pupils pay nothing for tuition; a public school.
{Free services} (O.Eng. Law), such feudal services as were not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum of money, etc. --Burrill.
{Free ships}, ships of neutral nations, which in time of war are free from capture even though carrying enemy's goods.
{Free socage} (O.Eng. Law), a feudal tenure held by certain services which, though honorable, were not military. --Abbott.
{Free States}, those of the United States before the Civil War, in which slavery had ceased to exist, or had never existed.
{Free stuff} (Carp.), timber free from knots; clear stuff.
{Free thought}, that which is thought independently of the authority of others.
{Free trade}, commerce unrestricted by duties or tariff regulations.
{Free trader}, one who believes in free trade.
{To make free with}, to take liberties with; to help one's self to. [Colloq.]
{To sail free} (Naut.), to sail with the yards not braced in as sharp as when sailing closehauled, or close to the wind.
Free \Free\, adv. 1. Freely; willingly. [Obs.]
I as free forgive you As I would be forgiven. --Shak.
2. Without charge; as, children admitted free.
Free \Free\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Freed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Freeing}.] [OE. freen, freoien, AS. fre['o]gan. See {Free}, a.] 1. To make free; to set at liberty; to rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, oppresses, etc.; to release; to disengage; to clear; -- followed by from, and sometimes by off; as, to free a captive or a slave; to be freed of these inconveniences. --Clarendon.
Our land is from the rage of tigers freed. --Dryden.
Arise, . . . free thy people from their yoke. --Milton.
2. To remove, as something that confines or bars; to relieve from the constraint of.
This master key Frees every lock, and leads us to his person. --Dryden.
3. To frank. [Obs.] --Johnson.
"We hope that the government will now hold to its own promised timetable and continue on a course to allow open and free elections," government spokesman Herbert Schmuelling said.
The free agents averaged just a 5% salary increase.
"I would like to talk to her without her parents present to determine in fact that she is acting according to her own free will," Kelly said.
They plan to keep working for reforms, such as a free press and an end to widespread official corruption, regardless of whether Communist Party reformers win a power struggle with conservatives.
The idea to fast 24 hours in support of the hostages was conceived by Buffalo Area Metropolitan Ministries and was adopted enthusiastically by Peggy Say, Anderson's sister and the leader of efforts to free the hostages.
A man who chained himself to his sofa for three weeks to stop smoking is a free man today and says it feels wonderful to have kicked the habit.
A woman whose husband was convicted of theft refused to pay a fine to free him, then told the court she had fallen in love with a prosecution witness, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Of course, there's no such thing as free aid.'
'But as its market erodes, it has a disincentive to fund the full range of work because its competitors can free ride.' By the new pattern in the US, aggressive small and mid-sized firms invest heavily in research, while the old giants hold R&D down.
"They don't give away anything for free."
Two intriguing messages from a Lebanese terrorist group, the recent release of a West German hostage, and an apparent political shift in Iran are kindling fresh hopes that some of the nine American hostages in Lebanon will be set free this year.
The doctor, David Collings, performed 338 operations in Britain after returning last year from five years in his native Zimbabwe. Health officials are trying to find the patients to offer them counseling and, if necessary, a free blood test.
We need every subscription we can get," said Shine. "Some guy walked out of the building and thought we'd gone bankrupt." Shine couldn't speak long because customer service workers were passing around passes for free kisses.
The six to eight gunmen, who have killed two passengers, demand that Kuwait free 17 pro-Iranian extremists convicted in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies there.
Even the sales tags that now adorn many items and the "buy one, get one free" signs across racks of merchandise don't seem to be enticing once-loyal customers.
An independent television station being launched by a local cable operator could signal the opening of a new battleground between cable and free television.
A government social worker arrives to offer a lesson on home finance and the rules of a free housing market.
Judge Bork does reject the notion "that under the Ninth Amendment the court was free to make up more Bills of Rights."
But only Christen was set free on Wednesday.
But he was fired amid concern about free spending by visiting D.C. government officials who stayed in expensive resort hotels in the islands.
The former Communists finished third in East Germany's first free elections in March.
Teachers said advertising is a small price to pay for the benefits of getting a quality magazine free.
Would my word free the slaves when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the rebel States?" The turning point in the Civil War came that summer, outside Gettysburg, Pa. For three days one of the war's bloodiest battles was fought.
However, an increase in the number of moderate deputies will free the government of some of its inhibitions - both about being more friendly to the western world and about pursuing its economic liberalisation policies.
Suez says that this gives it a free hand to run the company and that it is confident a tough manager can double Generale de Belgique's profits by 1991.
Fidelity Investments, the Boston-based mutual fund and discount brokerage firm, offers a teaching kit titled "You and Money" free to parents.
The passengers would be carried free of charge, it said.
United Airlines plans to put major new restrictions on its frequent-flier program, limiting when free travel awards can be used.
The 38-year-old doctrine requires broadcasters airing controversial material to give opponents free air time to respond.
For every two ordinary shares bought, investors will receive one free warrant permitting them to convert one savings share into an ordinary share.