free

FREE, n. [Heb. See Frank.]

1. Being at liberty; not being under necessity or restraint, physical or moral; a word of general application to the body, the will or mind, and to corporations.

2. In government, not enslaved; not in a state of vassalage or dependence; subject only to fixed laws, made by consent, and to a regular administration of such laws; not subject to the arbitrary will of a sovereign or lord; as a free state, nation or people.

3. Instituted by a free people, or by consent or choice of those who are to be subjects, and securing private rights and privileges by fixed laws and principles; not arbitrary or despotic; as a free constitution or government.

There can be no free government without a democratical branch in the constitution.

4. Not imprisoned, confined or under arrest; as, the prisoner is set free.

5. Unconstrained; unrestrained; not under compulsion or control. A man is free to pursue his own choice; he enjoys free will.

6. Permitted; allowed; open; not appropriated; as, places of honor and confidence are free to all; we seldom hear of a commerce perfectly free.

7. Not obstructed; as, the water has a free passage or channel; the house is open to a free current of air.

8. Licentious; unrestrained. The reviewer is very free in his censures.

9. Open; candid; frank; ingenuous; unreserved; as, we had a free conversation together.

Will you be free and candid to your friend?

10. Liberal in expenses; not parsimonious; as a free purse; a man is free to give to all useful institutions.

11. Gratuitous; not gained by importunity or purchase. He made him a free offer of his services. It is a free gift. The salvation of men is of free grace.

12. Clear of crime or offense; guiltless; innocent.

My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.

13. Not having feeling or suffering; clear; exempt; with from; as free from pain or disease; free from remorse.

14. Not encumbered with; as free from a burden.

15. Open to all, without restriction or without expense; as a free school.

16. Invested with franchises; enjoying certain immunities; with of; as a man free of the city of London.

17. Possessing without vassalage or slavish conditions; as free of his farm.

18. Liberated from the government or control of parents, or of a guardian or master. A son or an apprentice, when of age, is free.

19. Ready; eager; not dull; acting without spurring or shipping; as a free horse.

20. Genteel; charming. [Not in use.]

FREE, v.t.

1. To remove from a thing any encumbrance or obstruction; to disengage from; to rid; to strip; to clear; as, to free the body from clothes; to free the feet from fetters; to free a channel from sand.

2. To set at liberty; to rescue or release from slavery, captivity or confinement; to loose. The prisoner is freed from arrest.

3. To disentangle; to disengage.

4. To exempt.

He that is dead is freed from sin. Rom. 6.

5. To manumit; to release from bondage; as, to free a slave.

6. To clear from water, as a ship by pumping.

7. To release from obligation or duty.

To free from or free of, is to rid of, by removing, in any manner.