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.
freeing
FREEING, ppr. Delivering from restraint; releasing from confinement; removing incumbrances or hinderances from any thing; clearing.