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free

adj
/fɹiː/UK/fɹɪj//fɹi/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *preyH- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *priHós Proto-Germanic *frijwaz Proto-West Germanic *friu Old English frēo Middle English fre English free From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fri (“free”), Faroese fríur (“free”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (freis, “free”). Other cognates include Sanskrit प्रिय (priyá-, “beloved”). Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

  1. inherited from *priHós✻
  2. inherited from *frijaz✻
  3. inherited from *frī✻
  4. inherited from frēo
  5. inherited from free

Definitions

  1. Unconstrained.

    • He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.
    • Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.

  2. Obtainable without any payment.

    • The government provides free health care.
    • It's free real estate.

  3. Without

    Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.

    • We had a wholesome, filling meal, free of meat.  I would like to live free from care in the mountains.
    • princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties
  4. ›+ 16 more definitions

    1. Ready

      Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.

      • a free horse

    2. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise

      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.

    3. Certain or honourable

      Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.

      • free service;  free socage

    4. Privileged or individual

      Privileged or individual; proprietary.

      • a free fishery;  a free warren

    5. Having oversteer.

    6. Without needing to pay.

      • I got this bike free.

    7. Freely

      Freely; willingly.

      • I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.

    8. To make free

      To make free; set at liberty; release.

      • Pro.[…]Spirit, fine ſpirit, Ile free thee / Within two dayes for this.
      • Liberia was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society whose goal was to resettle freed slaves in Africa.

    9. To rid of something that confines or oppresses.

    10. To relinquish (previously allocated memory) to the system.

      • There is no way to access that original area of memory, nor is there any way to free it before the program ends.

    11. Abbreviation of free kick.

      • Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.

    12. A free transfer.

      • Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.

    13. The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending…

      The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.

    14. Abbreviation of freestyle.

      • The team won the 200 meters free relay.

    15. A surname.

    16. An unincorporated community in Parish Grove Township, Benton County, Indiana, United…

      An unincorporated community in Parish Grove Township, Benton County, Indiana, United States.

The neighborhood

Derived

break free, feel free, first bite free, footloose and fancy free, free Abelian group, freeable, freeaboo, free agency, free agent, free algebra, free alongside, free alongside ship, free alongside ships, free as a bird, free as in beer, free as in freedom, free as in speech, free association, free as the wind, free ball, freeball, freebander, freebanding, free base, freebase, free bench, freebirth, free bleed, free bleeding, free-bleeding, freeblown, free-blown, free board, free body, free body diagram, free-body diagram, free-boob, free Boolean algebra, freebooter, freeborn · +292 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at free. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01free02specified03explained04explain05obscurity06understand07correctly08correct

A definitional loop anchored at free. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at free

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA