free

adj

1. Unconstrained.

   “He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.”

   “Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.”

   “There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].””

   “Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.”

2. Unconstrained.

   “Free Blacks”

   “a free man”

3. Unconstrained.

   “He's very free with his money.”

4. (obsolete)Unconstrained.

   “My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.”

5. Unconstrained.

   “free time”

6. Unconstrained.

   “a free school”

   “Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you?”

7. Unconstrained.

   “the Free World”

   “This is a free country.”

8. Unconstrained.

   “OpenOffice is free software.”

9. Unconstrained.
10. Obtainable without any payment.

    “Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.”

    “The government provides free health care.”

    “It's free real estate.”

11. (broadly)Obtainable without any payment.

    “Buy a TV to get a free DVD player!”

12. (abstract)Unconstrained.
13. (abstract)Unconstrained.
14. (abstract)Unconstrained.

    “The fundamental group of the figure eight is free of rank 2.”

15. (abstract)Unconstrained.
16. (abstract)Unconstrained.

    “z is the free variable in #92;forallx#92;existsy#58;xy#61;z.”

17. (abstract)Unconstrained.
18. (abstract)Unconstrained.
19. (physical)Unconstrained.

    “the drain was free”

20. (physical)Unconstrained.

    “a free radical”

21. (physical)Unconstrained.

    “You can sit on this chair; it's free.”

22. (physical)Unconstrained.

    “In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.”

    “Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute[…]”

23. (physical)Unconstrained.
24. 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”

    “One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.”

25. (dated)Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.

    “a free horse”

26. (dated)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.”

27. (UK, obsolete)Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.

    “free service;  free socage”

28. Privileged or individual; proprietary.

    “a free fishery;  a free warren”

29. (US, slang)Having oversteer.

adv

1. Without needing to pay.

   “I got this bike free.”

   “Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.”

2. (obsolete)Freely; willingly.

   “I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.”

verb

1. (transitive)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.”

2. (transitive)To rid of something that confines or oppresses.

   “Then I walked about, till I found on the further side, a great river of sweet water, running with a strong current; whereupon I called to mind the boat-raft I had made aforetime and said to myself, "Needs must I make another; haply I may free me from this strait. If I escape, I have my desire and I vow to Allah Almighty to forswear travel; and if I perish I shall be at peace and shall rest from toil and moil."”

3. (transitive)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.”

noun

1. (abbreviation, alt-of)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.”

2. A free transfer.

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

3. The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, informal)Abbreviation of freestyle.

   “The team won the 200 meters free relay.”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)An unincorporated community in Parish Grove Township, Benton County, Indiana, United States.