Dictionary    Maps    Thesaurus    Translate    Advanced >   


Tip: Click Thesaurus above for synonyms. Also, follow synonym links within the dictionary to find definitions from other sources.

1. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
      [1913 Webster]

            That which has the power, or not the power, to
            operate, is that alone which is or is not free.
                                                  --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control
      of parents, guardian, or master.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Not confined or imprisoned; released from arrest;
      liberated; at liberty to go.
      [1913 Webster]

            Set an unhappy prisoner free.         --Prior.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Not subjected to the laws of physical necessity; capable
      of voluntary activity; endowed with moral liberty; -- said
      of the will.
      [1913 Webster]

            Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
            Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent.
      [1913 Webster]

            My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved;
      ingenuous; frank; familiar; communicative.
      [1913 Webster]

            He was free only with a few.          --Milward.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. Unrestrained; immoderate; lavish; licentious; -- used in a
      bad sense.
      [1913 Webster]

            The critics have been very free in their censures.
                                                  --Felton.
      [1913 Webster]

            A man may live a free life as to wine or women.
                                                  --Shelley.
      [1913 Webster]

   9. Not close or parsimonious; liberal; open-handed; lavish;
      as, free with his money.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
       [1913 Webster]

             Princes declaring themselves free from the
             obligations of their treaties.       --Bp. Burnet.
       [1913 Webster]

   11. Characteristic of one acting without restraint; charming;
       easy.
       [1913 Webster]

   12. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping;
       spirited; as, a free horse.
       [1913 Webster]

   13. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying
       certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special
       rights; -- followed by of.
       [1913 Webster]

             He therefore makes all birds, of every sect,
             Free of his farm.                    --Dryden.
       [1913 Webster]

   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.
       [1913 Webster]

             Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
             For me as for you?                   --Shak.
       [1913 Webster]

   15. Not gained by importunity or purchase; gratuitous;
       spontaneous; as, free admission; a free gift.
       [1913 Webster]

   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.
       [1913 Webster]

   17. (O. Eng. Law) Certain or honorable; the opposite of
       base; as, free service; free socage. --Burrill.
       [1913 Webster]

   18. (Law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common;
       as, a free fishery; a free warren. --Burrill.
       [1913 Webster]

   19. Not united or combined with anything else; separated;
       dissevered; unattached; at liberty to escape; as, free
       carbonic acid gas; free cells.
       [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
make \make\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. made (m[=a]d); p. pr. & vb.
   n. making.] [OE. maken, makien, AS. macian; akin to OS.
   mak?n, OFries. makia, D. maken, G. machen, OHG. mahh?n to
   join, fit, prepare, make, Dan. mage. Cf. Match an equal.]
   1. To cause to exist; to bring into being; to form; to
      produce; to frame; to fashion; to create. Hence, in
      various specific uses or applications:
      (a) To form of materials; to cause to exist in a certain
          form; to construct; to fabricate.
          [1913 Webster]

                He . . . fashioned it with a graving tool, after
                he had made it a molten calf.     --Ex. xxxii.
                                                  4.
          [1913 Webster]
      (b) To produce, as something artificial, unnatural, or
          false; -- often with up; as, to make up a story.
          [1913 Webster]

                And Art, with her contending, doth aspire
                To excel the natural with made delights.
                                                  --Spenser.
          [1913 Webster]
      (c) To bring about; to bring forward; to be the cause or
          agent of; to effect, do, perform, or execute; -- often
          used with a noun to form a phrase equivalent to the
          simple verb that corresponds to such noun; as, to make
          complaint, for to complain; to make record of, for to
          record; to make abode, for to abide, etc.
          [1913 Webster]

                Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.
                                                  --Judg. xvi.
                                                  25.
          [1913 Webster]

                Wealth maketh many friends.       --Prov. xix.
                                                  4.
          [1913 Webster]

                I will neither plead my age nor sickness in
                excuse of the faults which I have made.
                                                  --Dryden.
          [1913 Webster]
      (d) To execute with the requisite formalities; as, to make
          a bill, note, will, deed, etc.
      (e) To gain, as the result of one's efforts; to get, as
          profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue or
          happen to one; as, to make a large profit; to make an
          error; to make a loss; to make money.
          [1913 Webster]

                He accuseth Neptune unjustly who makes shipwreck
                a second time.                    --Bacon.
          [1913 Webster]
      (f) To find, as the result of calculation or computation;
          to ascertain by enumeration; to find the number or
          amount of, by reckoning, weighing, measurement, and
          the like; as, he made the distance of; to travel over;
          as, the ship makes ten knots an hour; he made the
          distance in one day.
      (h) To put in a desired or desirable condition; to cause
          to thrive.
          [1913 Webster]

                Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown.
                                                  --Dryden.
          [1913 Webster]

   2. To cause to be or become; to put into a given state verb,
      or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make
      public; to make fast.
      [1913 Webster]

            Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? --Ex.
                                                  ii. 14.
      [1913 Webster]

            See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh. --Ex. vii.
                                                  1.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: When used reflexively with an adjective, the reflexive
         pronoun is often omitted; as, to make merry; to make
         bold; to make free, etc.
         [1913 Webster]

   3. To cause to appear to be; to constitute subjectively; to
      esteem, suppose, or represent.
      [1913 Webster]

            He is not that goose and ass that Valla would make
            him.                                  --Baker.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause;
      to occasion; -- followed by a noun or pronoun and
      infinitive.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In the active voice the to of the infinitive is usually
         omitted.
         [1913 Webster]

               I will make them hear my words.    --Deut. iv.
                                                  10.
         [1913 Webster]

               They should be made to rise at their early hour.
                                                  --Locke.
         [1913 Webster]

   5. To become; to be, or to be capable of being, changed or
      fashioned into; to do the part or office of; to furnish
      the material for; as, he will make a good musician; sweet
      cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing.
      [1913 Webster]

            And old cloak makes a new jerkin.     --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To compose, as parts, ingredients, or materials; to
      constitute; to form; to amount to; as, a pound of ham
      makes a hearty meal.
      [1913 Webster]

            The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea,
            Make but one temple for the Deity.    --Waller.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. To be engaged or concerned in. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole
            brotherhood of city bailiffs?         --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. To reach; to attain; to arrive at or in sight of. "And
      make the Libyan shores." --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

            They that sail in the middle can make no land of
            either side.                          --Sir T.
                                                  Browne.
      [1913 Webster]

   To make a bed, to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to
      put it in order.

   To make a card (Card Playing), to take a trick with it.

   To make account. See under Account, n.

   To make account of, to esteem; to regard.

   To make away.
      (a) To put out of the way; to kill; to destroy. [Obs.]
          [1913 Webster]

                If a child were crooked or deformed in body or
                mind, they made him away.         --Burton.
          [1913 Webster]
      (b) To alienate; to transfer; to make over. [Obs.]
          --Waller.

   To make believe, to pretend; to feign; to simulate.

   To make bold, to take the liberty; to venture.

   To make the cards (Card Playing), to shuffle the pack.

   To make choice of, to take by way of preference; to choose.
      

   To make danger, to make experiment. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.

   To make default (Law), to fail to appear or answer.

   To make the doors, to shut the door. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out
            at the casement.                      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster] 

   To make free with. See under Free, a.

   To make good. See under Good.

   To make head, to make headway.

   To make light of. See under Light, a.

   To make little of.
      (a) To belittle.
      (b) To accomplish easily.

   To make love to. See under Love, n.

   To make meat, to cure meat in the open air. [Colloq.
      Western U. S.]

   To make merry, to feast; to be joyful or jovial.

   To make much of, to treat with much consideration,,
      attention, or fondness; to value highly.

   To make no bones. See under Bone, n.

   To make no difference, to have no weight or influence; to
      be a matter of indifference.

   To make no doubt, to have no doubt.

   To make no matter, to have no weight or importance; to make
      no difference.

   To make oath (Law), to swear, as to the truth of something,
      in a prescribed form of law.

   To make of.
      (a) To understand or think concerning; as, not to know
          what to make of the news.
      (b) To pay attention to; to cherish; to esteem; to
          account. "Makes she no more of me than of a slave."
          --Dryden.

   To make one's law (Old Law), to adduce proof to clear one's
      self of a charge.

   To make out.
      (a) To find out; to discover; to decipher; as, to make out
          the meaning of a letter.
      (b) to gain sight of; to recognize; to discern; to descry;
          as, as they approached the city, he could make out the
          tower of the Chrysler Building.
      (c) To prove; to establish; as, the plaintiff was unable
          to make out his case.
      (d) To make complete or exact; as, he was not able to make
          out the money.
      (d) to write out; to write down; -- used especially of a
          bank check or bill; as, he made out a check for the
          cost of the dinner; the workman made out a bill and
          handed it to him.

   To make over, to transfer the title of; to convey; to
      alienate; as, he made over his estate in trust or in fee.
      

   To make sail. (Naut.)
      (a) To increase the quantity of sail already extended.
      (b) To set sail.

   To make shift, to manage by expedients; as, they made shift
      to do without it. [Colloq.].

   To make sternway, to move with the stern foremost; to go or
      drift backward.

   To make strange, to act in an unfriendly manner or as if
      surprised; to treat as strange; as, to make strange of a
      request or suggestion.

   To make suit to, to endeavor to gain the favor of; to
      court.

   To make sure. See under Sure.

   To make up.
      (a) To collect into a sum or mass; as, to make up the
          amount of rent; to make up a bundle or package.
      (b) To reconcile; to compose; as, to make up a difference
          or quarrel.
      (c) To supply what is wanting in; to complete; as, a
          dollar is wanted to make up the stipulated sum.
      (d) To compose, as from ingredients or parts; to shape,
          prepare, or fabricate; as, to make up a mass into
          pills; to make up a story.
          [1913 Webster]

                He was all made up of love and charms!
                                                  --Addison.
          [1913 Webster]
      (e) To compensate; to make good; as, to make up a loss.
      (f) To adjust, or to arrange for settlement; as, to make
          up accounts.
      (g) To dress and paint for a part, as an actor; as, he was
          well made up.

   To make up a face, to distort the face as an expression of
      pain or derision.

   To make up one's mind, to reach a mental determination; to
      resolve.

   To make way, or To make one's way.
      (a) To make progress; to advance.
      (b) To open a passage; to clear the way.

   To make words, to multiply words.
      [1913 Webster]

Common Misspellings >
Most Popular Searches: Define Misanthrope, Define Pulchritudinous, Define Happy, Define Veracity, Define Cornucopia, Define Almuerzo, Define Atresic, Define URL, Definitions Of Words, Definition Of Get Up, Definition Of Quid Pro Quo, Definition Of Irreconcilable Differences, Definition Of Word, Synonyms of Repetitive, Synonym Dictionary, Synonym Antonyms. See our main index and map index for more details.

©2011-2024 ZebraWords.com - Define Yourself - The Search for Meanings and Meaning Means I Mean. All content subject to terms and conditions as set out here. Contact Us, peruse our Privacy Policy