Freedom, N. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

freedom, n. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

Oxford English Dictionary | The definitive record of the English language freedom, n. Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈfriːdəm/, U.S. /ˈfridəm/ Forms: α. eOE freodoom, eOE friadom, OE freodum (rare), OE freogdom (in a late copy), OE freohdom (rare), OE freowdom (probably transmission error), OE frigedom (rare), OE–eME freodom, OE–eME friodom, lOE frigdom, lOE frydom, lOE–eME fridom, eME friedom, ME ffredam, ME ffredom, ME fredam, ME fredame, ME fredowm, ME fredowme, ME freedam, ME freodam, ME–15 ffredome, ME–16 fredome, ME–16 freedome, ME–18 fredom, ME– freedom, 15–16 freedoom, 15–16 freedoome, 16 ffreedom, 16 ffreedome; Scottish pre-17 freddome, pre-17 fredom, pre-17 fredome, pre-17 fredoum, pre-17 fredoume, pre- 17 fredowm, pre-17 fredowme, pre-17 fredum, pre-17 fredume, pre-17 fredwm, pre-17 fredwme, pre-17 freedome, pre-17 freidom, pre-17 freidome, pre-17 fridome, pre-17 friedom, pre-17 friedome, pre-17 17– freedom.

β. southern ME uridom, ME vridom.

Frequency (in current use):

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymons: FREE adj., -DOM suffix. Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian frīdōm (West Frisian frijdom ), Middle Dutch vrīdoem , vrīdom (Dutch vrijdom , vrijdoom , now rare and archaic), Middle Low German vrīdōm , Old High German frītuom (Middle High German vrītuom ) < the Germanic base of FREE adj. + the Germanic base of -DOM suffix. Compare also Old Frisian frīhēd (West Frisian frijheid ), Middle Dutch vrīheid (Dutch vrijheid ), Middle Low German vrīhēt , vrīheit ( > Old Swedish frihet (Swedish frihet )), Old High German frīheit (Middle High German vrīheit , German Freiheit ), and the Germanic forms cited at FRELS v. Compare FREENESS n., LIBERTY n.1

I. The state or fact of being free from servitude, constraint, inhibition, etc.; liberty. 1.

1 a. Exemption or release from slavery or imprisonment; = LIBERTY n. 1b. letter of freedom (now historical): a document emancipating a slave.

OE WÆRFERÐ tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) I. i. 12 Ða se Honoratus weox & þeah mid mycclum mægnum, oþ þæt æt nyxstan he wæs gearad mid freodome fram his hlaforde þam forecwedenan. c1225 (▸?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 50 Nis ha þenne sariliche..akeast & into þeowdom idrahen, þe of se muchel hehschipe & se seli freodom schal lihte se lahe into a monnes þeowdom. ▸ c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 631 (MED) Þou shalt me, louerd, fre maken..Þoru þe wile i fredom haue.

▸ a1398 J. TREVISA tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 72v Slake þe hond fro þy seruaunt and he askeþ fredome. a1425 (▸a1382) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) Deut. xv. 13 And whom with freedam thow https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/74395?result=1&rskey=iwydtW&&print Page 1 of 29 freedom, n. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

ȝyuest, thou shalt not suffre to goon awey voyd.

c1485 (▸1456) G. HAY Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 104 [The king of France] restorit the pape agayn jn his fredome. 1524 in W. Fraser Douglas Bk. (1885) IV. 89 The Bechep of Sanct Andros is put to his fredoume.

1596 E. SPENSER Second Pt. Faerie Queene V. V. sig. Q8 Thus he long while in thraldome there remayned..Vntill his owne true loue his freedome gayned.

1613 S. PURCHAS Pilgrimage 295 They will write any thing for monie, as letters of freedome for servants to runne away from their Masters.

1692 R. SOUTH 12 Serm. I. 552 Gross Ingratitude in the person..made Free, forfeits his Freedom, and Re- asserts him to his former Conditions of Slavery.

1722 J. STERLING Rival Generals I. i. 15 I know the Captain of the Prison Guards, Aw'd by the Authority of your Name.., Will ne'er dispute the noble Captive's Freedom.

1782 W. COWPER Charity in Poems 172 Neither age nor force Can quell the love of freedom in a horse.

1805 W. GODWIN Fleetwood III. xvi. 267 In prison? my friend in prison? I will rise this moment, and procure his freedom! 1878 Elyria (Ohio) Constit. 19 Sept. The colored Jews boast of their letters of freedom given by an ancient King of India.

1880 ‘E. KIRKE’ Life J. A. Garfield 38 Face to face with the alarming truth that we must lose our own freedom or grant it to the slave.

1934 R. GRAVES I, Claudius xxxi. 450 I became your slave when you first grew up to be Master, and it was you who gave me my freedom, not she, wasn't it?

1956 M. DICKENS Angel in Corner viii. 119 ‘Joe,’ she said, still busy with the cloth, ‘the missus is going to give you your freedom.’ 1967 Jrnl. Afr. Hist. 8 431 The consul would request a letter of freedom from the chief of police for any slave seeking refuge at the consulate. 1993 Dict. National Biogr.: Missing Persons 53/1 In 1334 he was captured and ransomed by the Scots, gaining his freedom in time to fight in Edward III's major Scottish campaign of 1335. 2005 Geographical Sept. 16/1 Towns in the Jamaican mountains where runaway slaves lived in freedom.

b. figurative. Liberation from the bondage or dominating influence of sin, spiritual servitude, worldly ties, etc.

OE Lord's Prayer I 10 Ne læt usic costunga cnyssan to swiðe, ac þu us freo don [read freodom] gief, folca waldend, from yfla gehwam, a to widan feore.

OE BYRHTFERÐ Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) II. iii. 116 Hig forwel oft þæt lof gelengað, þæt hig þa syxtan tid wynsumlice geglengað, wilnigende mid þissum þeowdome cuman to ecum freodome. c1330 (▸?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) 237 (MED) His fredom was binomen him al And put in seruage as a þral. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 86 Þe oþer uridom is þe ilke þet habbeþ þe guodemen..þet god heþ yvryd..uram þe þreldome of þe dyeule.

a1425 J. WYCLIF Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 240 (MED) Þat lesiþ þe fredom þat Crist haþ purchasid, and https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/74395?result=1&rskey=iwydtW&&print Page 2 of 29 freedom, n. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

makiþ men þralle to synne.

1526 W. BONDE Pylgrimage of Perfection I. sig. Biiiv From the thraldome of the princes of the worlde, to the fredome of glory and kyngdome of god. 1592 tr. F. Du Jon Apocalypsis xxii. 1 Freedome and immunity from all evil.

1700 J. RAY Persuasive to Holy Life 90 True liberty; that is, freedom from the Bondage of Sin and Corruption, from the slavery of Satan, from the dominion of every vile Affection.

1858 J. MARTINEAU Stud. Christianity 108 Our spirit..is so straitened by the bands of sin..that there is no freedom.

a1861 T. WINTHROP John Brent (1862) iv. 40 Tunnelling..to find my way out of the prison of doubt into the freedom of faith.

1910 F. P. GRAVES Hist. Educ. (1914) xvi. 237 A new measure for realizing individualism and freedom from the bondage of tradition, and an opportunity to investigate and search for truth, were needed. 2007 Scunthorpe Evening Tel. (Nexis) 8 Feb. 14 We were slaves to sin and wrong but God paid for our freedom.

c. Exemption or release from the obligations of a contractual agreement; spec. release from a marriage, divorce.

1861 A. M. MAILLARD Loving & being Loved II. xxi. 245 Give him his freedom,..if you can. 1906 Times 13 Mar. 3/2 The petitioner asked her to give him his freedom, and offered to relieve her of the child.

1957 Los Angeles Times 28 Dec. III. 3/1 Miss Allasio had been under contract to Dino De Laurentiis, but is..seeking her freedom from that deal.

1989 W. HOUSTON Inside Maple Leaf Gardens vii. 71 The reserve clause..made a player the property of his team unless he was traded or given his freedom. 2000 Redbook (Electronic text) Oct. 156 I basically had to buy my freedom—give him my inheritance—as he said he couldn't afford to live on his own.

†2. Nobility or generosity of character, magnanimity. Cf. FREE adj. 3. Obsolete.

eOE KING ÆLFRED tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xliv. 323 Ac ðonne hie hit eall ryhtlice gedæled hæbben, ðonne ne teon hie nanwuht ðæs lofes & ðæs geðonces to him, ðylæs hie..him selfum ne te[l]len to mægene hiora freodom [L. suae liberalitatis].

c1275 (▸?a1200) LA! AMON Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 10427 Ich heom habbe i-freoied for mines fader saule & for mine freo-dome. a1375 (▸c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 189 (MED) Bliþe was eche a barn ho best miȝt him plese & folwe him for his fredom & for his faire þewes. c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) l. 145 He ȝaf him [sc. Adam]..Feirlek and freodam and muche miht.

c1405 (▸c1375) G. CHAUCER Monk's Tale (Hengwrt) l. 564 He of knyghthod and of fredom flour.

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c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 47 Nay but me shulde thinke suich a yifte ful of gret fredom..and of gret curteysye.

▸ ?a1513 W. DUNBAR Poems (1998) I. 172 On Fredome is led foirfaltour.

c1525 J. RASTELL New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. Ci With grace indewid in fredome as alexandre. a1586 Maitl. F. lx. 35 Treuth, mercie, fredome, and iustice, Thir four makis ane nobill king.

3. The state or fact of not being subject to despotic or autocratic control, or to a foreign power; civil liberty; independence.

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) III. vii. 65 Æt þæm cirre wurdon Ahteniense swa wælhreowlice forslagen & forhiened þæt hie na siþþan nanes anwaldes hi ne bemætan ne nanes freodomes .

OE KING ÆLFRED tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xxii. Introd. Dauid..witegode be Israela folces freodome; hu hy sceoldon beon alæd of Babilonia þeowdome.

▸ a1398 J. TREVISA tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 180 Þe men be free, and nouȝt soget to lordeshepe of oþer naciouns, and put hem to perill of deeþ by cause of freedome.

?a1400 (▸a1338) R. MANNYNG Chron. (Petyt) II. 71 (MED) Now ere þei in seruage fulle fele þat or was fre, Our fredom þat day for euer toke þe leue.

c1485 (▸1456) G. HAY Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 58 The..mony bataillis yat he did for the fredome of Rome.

1489 (▸a1380) J. BARBOUR Bruce (Adv.) I. 227 Fredome all solace to man giffis, He levys at ese that frely levys.

a1500 (▸c1425) ANDREW OF WYNTOUN Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) VI. l. 27 For þis fredome..mak we defens.

1585 T. BILSON True Difference Christian Subiection III. 521 If hee wil needes become an oppressour, why should they not defend the freedome of their countrie?

1606 P. HOLLAND tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 42 They died for the Libertie and Free-dome of their Cittie.

1695 R. BLACKMORE Prince Arthur iv. 105 May those be doubly curst, that would betray Their Country's Freedom, to a Foreign Sway.

1724 J. SWIFT Let. to Molesworth 9 Freedom consists in a People being Governed by Laws made with their own Consent.

1780 W. COWPER Table Talk 284 They, that fight for freedom, undertake The noblest cause mankind can have at stake.

1813 R. WILSON Private Diary (1861) I. 274 The Poles are hostile to the Russians as enemies to their freedom and nationalization.

1850 LD. TENNYSON In Memoriam cvii. 167 A love of freedom rarely felt, Of freedom in her regal seat Of England.

1904 W. M. RAMSAY Lett. to Seven Churches xix. 254 Smyrna was struggling to maintain its freedom against the Seleucid power.

1940 KING GEORGE VI in Times Weekly 27 Nov. 11/1 My peoples and My Allies are united in their resolve to continue the fight against the aggressor nations until freedom is made secure.

1964 J. M. ARGYLE Psychol. & Social Probl. xvi. 202 Another objection to social planning is that it is felt to https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/74395?result=1&rskey=iwydtW&&print Page 4 of 29 freedom, n. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

increase the power of the state and restrict individual freedom. 1974 tr. A. Snieckus Soviet Lithuania 8 The new housing..was one of the many notable markers along the Lithuanian people's long and arduous road to freedom, progress, and socialism. 2006 Time Out N.Y. 6 July 55/4 A red Phrygian cap (a symbol of freedom during the American and French revolutions).

a. The state of being able to act without hindrance or restraint; liberty of action. Frequently with to and infinitive.

academic freedom: see ACADEMIC n. and adj. Compounds.

OE tr. Defensor Liber Scintillarum (1969) ix. 95 In hac uita tantum pęnitentię patet libertas, post mortem uero nulla correctionis est licentia : on þysum life foran hreowsunge geopenað freohdom æfter deaþe soðlice nan þreagincge ys leaf. a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 23409 (MED) Þe fredom sal be at vnderstand: Þi bodi bind sal nakin band [etc.]. ?a1425 (▸c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 128 Fisshes þat han fredom to enviroun all the costes of the see at here owne list comen of hire owne will to profren hem to the deth. 1498 in C. Innes Registrum Honoris de Morton (1853) II. 253 With fredome to hald ane horse..summyr and wyntyr.

1594 W. SHAKESPEARE Titus Andronicus I. i. 17 And Romaines fight for freedome in your choice. ?a1600 (▸a1500) Sc. Troy Bk. (Cambr.) l. 1001 in C. Horstmann Barbour's Legendensammlung (1882) II. 256 The quhilkis..Suld haue fredome..To pas or þan to duell þar still.

1633 BP. J. HALL Plaine Explic. Hard Texts I. 513 Alexander of Macedon..shall rule very powerfully, & with great freedome and absolutenesse.

1690 J. CHILD Disc. Trade iii. 84 All his Majesties Subjects have had equal freedom to Trade. 1724 Short Explic. Foreign Words Musick Bks. 30 Fantasia, is a Kind of Air, wherein the Composer..has all the Freedom and Liberty allowed him for his Fancy or Invention, that can reasonably be desir'd.

1781 W. COWPER Truth 195 Thought, word, and deed, his liberty evince, His freedom is the freedom of a prince. 1813 Times 28 Jan. 2/5 Contending that merchants should be left at perfect freedom, to act as their own interests and experience may direct.

1878 W. S. JEVONS Polit. Econ. 67 It is absolutely necessary to maintain..the freedom of other men to labour if they like. 1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Apr. 106/3 This freedom to speak one's mind was powerfully reinforced by the tradition of science.

1987 N.Y. Times 8 Nov. VII. 1/2 A sense of evenhanded integrity that reaffirmed PEN as the champion of writers' freedom everywhere.

2005 J. COX Around World in 80 Dates xvi. 391 Nor did I want to give up the things in life I loved, like the freedom to travel.

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b. As a count noun: a particular type of freedom (sense 4a), esp. when regarded as a right; a civil liberty. Usually in plural. four freedoms: those propounded by Franklin D. Roosevelt (see quot. 19411).

1892 H. SPENCER Princ. Ethics II. IV. viii. 62 The implied admission is that it is right he should have the particular freedom so defined. And hence the several particular freedoms deducible may fitly be called..his rights.

1910 H. G. WELLS New Machiavelli I. ii. 43 A world full of restricted and undisciplined people, overtaken by power, by possessions and great new freedoms, and unable to make any civilised use of them whatever.

1941 F. D. ROOSEVELT in Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 6 Jan. 8/6 In the future days..we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression... The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way... The third is freedom from want... The fourth is freedom from fear. 1941 Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer 24 Jan. 2/8 We must recognize that the four freedoms face extermination in the total war to come.

1964 R. CHURCH Voy. Home iii. 35 An economic way of life supported on the newly-painted pillars of the four freedoms. 1999 Herald (Glasgow) 6 Apr. 14/5 Our forebears struggled for centuries to achieve the freedoms which we enjoy today, including the right of opposition parties and the press to question Government policy.

5. The fact of not being controlled by or subject to fate; the power of self- determination attributed to the will.

In philosophical and theological contexts sometimes contrasted with necessity; cf. NECESSITY n. 2.

eOE KING ÆLFRED tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xli. 141 Ðu sægst þæt God selle ælcum men freodom swa good to donne swa yfel.

OE ÆLFRIC Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 380 Ælc man hæfð agenne freodom, þæt he wat hwæt he wile, and wat hwæt he nele, ac God us ne nyt swa þeah þæt we god don sceolon, ne eac us ne forwyrnð yfel to wyrcenne, forðan þe he us forgeaf agenne cyre. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 86 Uri-wyl, huer-by he may chyese, and do, uryliche oþer þet guod oþer þet kuead. Þerne uridom he halt of god.

c1400 J. WYCLIF On the Seven Deadly Sins (Bodl. 647) in Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 129 (MED) God Almyghty, þat puttes in monnis fredame to chese gode or yvel.

?a1425 (▸c1380) G. CHAUCER tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. V. pr. iii. 9 It semeth..to contrarien gretly, that God knoweth byforn all thinges and that ther is any fredom of liberte [L. libertatis arbitrium].

a1513 J. IRLAND Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 72 The presciens of God is nocht presciens be necessite, bot be fredome and contingence.

1565 W. ALLEN Def. & Declar. Doctr. Purgatory II. v. f. 160 It shal be much meritorious, as proceding not of necessity, but of freedom and good will.

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1624 J. ROBINSON Def. Doctr. Synode at Dort i. 20 There is indeed a necessity which takes away freedom and voluntarinesse from men.

1690 J. LOCKE Ess. Humane Understanding II. xxi. 123 In this then consists Freedom (viz.) in our being able to act, or not to act, according as we shall choose, or will.

1739 S. PARVISH Inq. into Jewish & Christian Revelation 183 You are digressing from our Subject, to the Doctrines of Freedom and Necessity, which have perplexed the Pagan and Christian World.

1797 J. HEY Lect. Divinity III. IV. x. 247 I am, in truth for both Freedom and Necessity.

1855 A. BAIN Emotions & Will (1859) xi. 544 The doctrine of Freedom was first elaborated into a metaphysical scheme, implying its opposite Necessity, by St. Augustin against Pelagius.

1884 B. BOSANQUET et al. tr. H. Lotze Metaphysic 420 The freedom which is said to characterise mental life, and is distinguished from the necessity of nature. 1943 Jrnl. Philos. 40 86 That an act must be voluntary to be free indicates an inner condition of freedom.

1990 M. KLEIN Determinism, Blameworthiness, & Deprivation iii. 52 The problem of reconciling determinism in the phenomenal world with the existence of moral responsibility and human freedom.

†6. Readiness or willingness to act; keenness, enthusiasm. Cf. FREE adj. 15. Obsolete (Scottish in later use).

a1425 Daily Work (Arun.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 137 (MED) Þat he his werk do with a fredome of spirite [v.r. fredome of hert & spirite].

a1626 F. BACON New Atlantis (1627) 18 We found such humanity, and such a freedome and desire to take strangers as it were into their bosom.

1697 W. DAMPIER New Voy. around World xviii. 502 I had been accustomed to hardships and hazards, therefore I did with much freedom undertake it. 1719 Life J. Sharp 86 He had no Freedom to undertake an Imployment that might abstract him so long from them.

1830 W. SCOTT Old Mortality Introd., in Waverley Novels IX. 227 He was in bad humour, and had, according to his phrase, no freedom for conversation with us.

7. The state of being free from a defect, encumbrance, disadvantage, etc.

1576 G. GASCOIGNE Droomme of Doomes Day II. sig. Eviii It appeareth that the purenesse and freedom from sinne is..the ende and scope of all the documentes and preceptes in holy scriptures.

1613 S. PURCHAS Pilgrimage 62 Promising to the doers long life, health..freedome from losses, and the like.

a1616 W. SHAKESPEARE Antony & Cleopatra (1623) I. iii. 57 Though age from folly could not giue me freedom It does from childishnesse.

a1683 J. OWEN Posthumous Serm. in Wks. (1851) IX. 97 Subjective perfection, in respect of the person, obeying, in his sincerity and freedom from guile.

1757 E. BURKE Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful I. §13. 22 The contemplation of our own freedom from the

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evils which we see represented.

1786 W. COWPER Let. 4–5 June (1981) II. 561 I could have hugged him for his liberality, and freedom from bigotry.

1839 M. R. MITFORD in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. vii. 99 There is a freedom from cant about the authoress, which..I could not have anticipated.

1890 D. C. BEARD Amer. Boy's Handy Bk. 392 The tree is selected, first, for straightness, second, smoothness, third, freedom from knots or limbs.

1924 B. C. WILLIAMS in O. Henry Prize Stories of 1923 Introd. p. vii This collection is that of..editors, critics, and writers of fiction, whose combined opinion insures catholicity of taste and freedom from bias. 1970 Single Sideband for Radio Amateur (Amer. Radio Relay League) (ed. 5) i. 8/1 The same general features are required: a slow tuning rate, freedom from backlash, good signal-handling ability, and good frequency stability. 2003 Grower 16 Jan. 9/2 Freedom from plant pathogens such as clubroot and honey fungus cannot be guaranteed if field vegetable, garden or untreated wood waste are included.

a. Frankness, openness, familiarity (in conversation or social interaction); outspokenness; (occasionally) an instance of this.

1585 T. BILSON True Difference Christian Subiection III. 360 You will I know take my freedom of speech in good part.

1643 J. HOWELL Parables 12 Being all under the Rose, they had priviledge to speak all things with freedome.

1659 J. DAVIES tr. G. de Costes de La Calprenède Hymen's Præludia: 9th & 10th Pts. IX. 29 This amorous Prince looked upon that freedom of conversation which was between her and Cecinua, with a very jealous eye.

1705 J. ADDISON Remarks Italy 86 They are generally too distrustful of one another for the Freedoms that are us'd in such kind of Conversations.

1792 E. BURKE Corr. (1844) IV. 32 I talked a great deal to him with the freedom I have long used to him on this and on other subjects.

1808 J. JAMIESON Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Outspoken, Given to freedom of speech, not accustomed to conceal one's sentiments.

1828 I. D'ISRAELI Comm. Life Charles I I. viii. 270 His symposia attracted a closer observation from the freedom of his conversation.

1887 F. DARWIN Life & Lett. C. Darwin I. 18 And laughed and joked with everyone..with the utmost freedom.

1925 Z. KINCAID Kabuki xxviii. 343 Kawakami began to make political speeches, and was repeatedly put in prison because of the freedom of his remarks. 1965 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 28 569 He scarcely needed to assure Lake that despite the freedom of his criticism, he would if possible ‘contribute personally in forwarding any plan’.

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2003 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 1 Mar. B9 Many questions were asked with the frankness and freedom that women feel amongst women.

b. The overstepping of due or customary bounds in speech or behaviour; undue familiarity; an instance of this, a liberty (esp. in to take the freedom (to do something)). Now rare.

a1625 J. FLETCHER Loyal Subj. II. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ddd3v/2 Your eye..Is fixt upon this Captaine for his freedome, And happily you find his tongue too forward.

1648 R. BOYLE Seraphic Love (1660) 9 This Love, I have taken the freedom to style ‘Seraphic Love’.

1681 T. OTWAY Souldiers Fortune II. i. 16 Let her alone to make the best use of those innocent Freedoms I allow her.

1712 R. STEELE Spectator No. 402. ⁋1 The young Women who run into greater Freedoms with the Men. 1765 tr. Mme de Sévigné Lett. (ed. 2) II. cxxi. 144 He was at play the other day with the Count de Gramont, who, upon his taking too many freedoms, told him [etc.].

1804 ‘E. DE ACTON’ Tale without Title I. 194 Our modern misses; who..look offendedly grave at those freedoms in conversation.

1812 G. CRABBE Tales v. 97 The splendid sofa, which, though made for rest, He then had thought it freedom to have press'd.

1854 J. S. C. ABBOTT Napoleon (1855) I. xvi. 287 When the officers do not eat or drink, or take too many freedoms with the seamen.

1893 R. L. STEVENSON Island Nights' Entertainm. 48 I'll take the freedom of telling you you show a queer kind of gratitude to a man who's got into all this mess along of your affairs.

1939 K. MERRILD Poet & Two Painters 227 The summary of these discussions, I have found that Lawrence later put into print, and I take the freedom to quote at length his view on these matters.

9. Facility or ease in action or activity; absence of encumbrance or hindrance.

1623 W. SHAKESPEARE & J. FLETCHER Henry VIII V. i. 103 You cannot with such freedome purge your selfe.

1705 D. DEFOE Let. 5 Apr. (1955) 83 I humbly Thank your Ldship for the freedome of Access you were Pleasd to give my Messenger.

1780 W. SMELLIE tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Gen. & Particular IV. 1 Neither majesty and elegance of form, strength of body, freedom of movement, nor other external qualities, constitute the principal dignity of animated beings.

1807 T. YOUNG Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xxvi. 310 The freedom, with which the particles of fluids move on each other, renders it [sc. the spirit level] an instrument capable of the greatest delicacy.

1860 J. TYNDALL Glaciers of Alps II. iii. 243 The sun's rays penetrate our atmosphere with freedom.

1904 T. JOHNSTONE tr. E. Kraepelin Lect. Clin. Psychiatry iii. 25 All his movements showed a certain

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constraint and want of freedom.

1922 E. VON ARNIM Enchanted April (1989) 77 The cool roominess of it, the freedom of one's movements.

1978 K. GORDON Emerald Peacock ii. 29 She put on the blue sari with pleasure, enjoying its soft freedom after her constricting bodice and corset. 2006 Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 6/8 Barn hens stay inside but have freedom of movement and access to nests and perches.

10. Boldness or vigour in conception or execution, esp. of a literary or other artistic work; the fact of not strictly observing conventions of style or form. Cf. FREE adj. 10b.

1645 J. HOWELL Epistolæ Ho-elianæ VI. lvi. 85 I alwayes lov'd you for the freedom of your genius.

1763 H. WALPOLE Catal. Engravers (1765) 116 Mr. John Smith 1700. The best mezzotinter that has appeared, who united softness with strength, and finishing with freedom.

1782 W. COWPER Table Talk in Poems 700 Nature..But seldom..Vouchsafes to man a poet's just pretence. Fervency, freedom, fluency of thought [etc.]. 1812 Examiner 25 May 329/1 The lines are played over the forms with..freedom and taste.

1842 H. ROGERS Introd. Burke's Wks. (1842) I. 11 For by knowing..what was to be done in every figure they designed, they naturally attained a freedom and spirit of outline. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 497/1 The Symbolist school..aimed at greater freedom, a less strict prosody, and a more musical poetry. 1948 Mod. Philol. 46 76 Its meter and the variations exhibit by turns both the ease and freedom of the improviser and the careful workmanship of the artist. 1993 Master Drawings 31 106/2 The greater freedom of execution in the Chatsworth drawing suggests that it was made for a different purpose than the National Gallery sheet.

11. Scottish. A piece of common land allotted by certain communities to freemen, or to other appropriately qualified members. Now historical and rare.

1752 in D. Murray Early Burgh Organization (1932) II. 221 [Appointed to] be equally divided amongst the 48 freemen entitled to daills, and that each of them have a share thereto..to continue to be divided by lot, with the other freedoms.

1793 R. HERON Observ. Journey Western Counties Scotl. II. 45 They [sc. the feuars of the village of Crawford] have used to hold what has been called a freedom, consisting of four or five acres of croft land for each family.

1805 R. FORSYTH Beauties Scotl. II. 473 Each of these freemen possesses what is called a lot or freedom, containing about four acres of arable land.

1861 J. HOWIE Hist. Acc. Ayr v. 46 The Newton people divided them [sc. the lands] into 48 portions. These were denominated freedoms.

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1971 I. H. ADAMS Directory Former Sc. Commonties 143 The town of Crawford was divided into 25 freedoms which were partly infield lying runrig, partly outfield and the remainder commonty.

12. degree of freedom.

a. Physics and Mechanics. Each of the independent modes or directions in which an object may undergo displacement, translation, or deformation.

1867 W. THOMSON & P. G. TAIT Treat. Nat. Philos. I. i. 130 A free point has three degrees of freedom, inasmuch as the most general displacement which it can take is resolvable into three, parallel respectively to any three directions, and independent of each other... If the point be constrained to remain always on a given surface, one degree of constraint is introduced, or there are left but two degrees of freedom. 1885 Times 26 Aug. 8/3 The five degrees of freedom being three of translation and two of rotation about two axes.

1936 S. GLASSTONE Recent Adv. Gen. Chem. ii. 85 This expression gives the whole of the internal entropy, when the vibrational degrees of freedom do not contribute to the total.

1954 H. J. J. BRADDICK Physics Exper. Method iii. 62 The position of one rigid body relative to another may be defined by six co-ordinates, and it is therefore said to have six degrees of freedom. 1969 Jrnl. Inst. Navigation 22 366 This type of gyro..has a rotor suspended on a spherical air bearing which acts both as a spin bearing and provides for two further degrees of rotational freedom.

1993 R. J. POND Introd. Engin. Technol. (ed. 2) x. 282 The number of independent ways a robot can move is also known as the robot's degrees of freedom. 2005 Jrnl. Biomechanical Engin. 127 934 The hand mechanism itself has 15 degrees of freedom and five fingers.

b. Physical Chemistry. An independent capability of a system to vary without altering the number of phases and components present; each of the independently variable parameters which together determine the state of a system.

1899 R. A. LEHFELDT Text-bk. Physical Chem. v. 208 Such systems may conveniently be called invariant, univariant, divariant, &c., according as they possess no, one, two, &c., degrees of freedom.

1904 A. FINDLAY Phase Rule ii. 15 We shall therefore define the number of degrees of freedom of a system as the number of the variable factors, temperature, pressure, and concentration of the components, which must be arbitrarily fixed in order that the condition of the system may be perfectly defined.

1948 S. GLASSTONE Textbk. Physical Chem. (ed. 2) vi. 475 A system consisting of one phase only, e.g., solid, liquid or gaseous, of water has two degrees of freedom,..for..it is necessary to specify both temperature and pressure to define completely the state of the system. 1999 Nature 29 Apr. 755/2 The stochasticity inherent in the climate system's many degrees of freedom.

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2001 R. W. CAHN Coming of Materials Sci. iii. 76 Gibbs derived a corollary of general validity, the phase rule , formulated as δ = n + 2 − r. This specifies the number of independent variations δ (usually called ‘degrees of freedom’) in a system of r coexistent phases containing n independent chemical components.

c. Statistics. A property of a statistical distribution or of a statistic, equal to the number of values that can be arbitrarily and independently assigned to the distribution, or the number of independent and unrestricted quantities contributing to the statistic.

1922 R. A. FISHER in Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 85 88 We shall show that Elderton's Tables of Goodness of Fit..may still be applied, but that the value of n′ with which the table should be entered is not now equal to the number of cells, but to one more than the number of degrees of freedom in the distribution.

1950 G. U. YULE & M. C. KENDALL Introd. Theory Statistics (ed. 14) xxi. 485 In the quantity Σ(x − m)2 there are n independent contributions of the type (x − m)2, and hence we may say that n is the number of degrees of freedom of that estimate; but in the quantity Σ(x − x̄)2 we have used the data to estimate x̄, and hence the number of degrees of freedom is lowered by unity, i.e. equals n − 1.

1969 M. G. KENDALL & A. STUART Advanced Theory Statistics (ed. 3) I. xvi. 375 It is thus natural to speak of the number of degrees of freedom, ν, of a function such as χ2, meaning thereby that it is distributed as the sum of squares of ν independent standardized normal variates.

1994 P. ORMEROD Death of Econ. (1995) 214 (table) Q(3) is the Box–Ljung test statistic of the null hypothesis of white-noise residuals from one through three lags, which has a chi-square distribution with three degrees of freedom.

2004 K. R. MURPHY Statist. Power Anal. ii. 37 If the null hypothesis is true and there are 2 and 100 degrees of freedom, then researchers should expect to find F values of 3.09 or lower 95% of the time, and values of 4.82 or lower 99% of the time.

II. Exemption, immunity, privilege. 13.

a. Exemption from a service, obligation, charge, or duty; the state of being so exempted; an instance of this; an immunity, a privilege. Cf. FRANCHISE n. 2.

eOE Will of Æðelwyrd (Sawyer 1506) in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 58 Þæt Æðelwyrd bruce ðæs landæs on Geocham his dæg on freodome be Godes leafe..ðonne yftær his dæge Eadric, gif he libbe, his dæg wið ðon gofole ðe hit gecwedæn is, ðæt sint V pund & ælce gære æne dægfeorme In hiowum. a1225 (▸?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 41 We eow wulleð suteliche seggen of þa fredome þe limpeð to þan deie þe is iclepeð..sunedei.

c1275 (▸?a1200) LA! AMON Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11089 Ar[ð]ur..sette grið he sette frið and alle https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/74395?result=1&rskey=iwydtW&&print Page 12 of 29 freedom, n. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

freodomes.

▸ a1387 J. TREVISA tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 61 He graunted hem fredom [L. immunitatem] þat dede þat deede. 1431 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Jan. 1431 §18. m, 8 Savying to þe saide roialme of Englond, and to alle the kyngges lieges and subjettes therof..alle their libertees, fredoms, lawes, custumes and priveleges, þat they, their auncestres and predecessours, haveth had.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) I. 33 (MED) With all other pertynentis and fredomes longyng to the same lond.

1534 R. WHITTINGTON tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces I. sig. D.1 Many thynges be commune to cytezyns amonge them selfe, as..fredomes, iudgementes voyces in elections.

1570 J. FOXE Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. III. 181/1 [Athelwulph] gaue to them..libertie and fredome from all seruage and ciuil charges.

1610 W. FOLKINGHAM Feudigraphia III. iv. 71 Infeoffing with Toll, implies Freedome from Custome, etc. With Caruage, from taxation by Carues. 1675 in O. Airy Essex Papers (1890) I. 315 That all ye auntient freemen of ye respective Corporacions should enjoy their former freedoms and Priviledges.

1711 T. MADOX Hist. & Antiq. Exchequer 524 K. John..granted to Robert de Lisieux..Quittance or Freedom from Tallage.

1719 W. WOOD Surv. Trade (ed. 2) 9 All Foreigners might freely come and reside in any Part of this Kingdom..with the like Privileges and Freedoms as our selves.

1839 T. KEIGHTLEY Hist. Eng. (new ed.) I. 332 Freedom from arrest, a privilege at that time necessary for the cause of liberty.

1868 M. E. GRANT DUFF Polit. Surv. 24 The Danish Government passed two new..laws granting freedom from remeasurement in Danish ports to all foreigners according reciprocity. 1918 Yale Law Jrnl. 28 113 A negative declaration to establish that certain persons were not members of a certain club was really intended to establish their freedom from the duty of paying the debts of the club.

1961 N. S. GRABO Edward Taylor (1962) i. 21 The years that followed saw one Puritan disappointment after another as Charles reduced the freedoms and privileges of dissenters from the Anglican faith. 1992 Jrnl. Rom. Stud. 82 120 The list of privileges enjoyed by its citizens included..freedom from liability to liturgic service elsewhere.

b. Immunity, exemption, or privilege possessed by a city, corporation, etc.; an instance of this.

eOE Royal Charter: Wiglaf of Mercia to Minster at Hanbury (Sawyer 190) in H. Sweet Oldest Eng. Texts (1885) 453 Ðis is Heanburge friodom, se waes bigeten mid ðy londe aet Iddeshale. OE tr. Bull of Pope Sergius I in W. de G. Birch Cartularium Saxonicum (1885) I. 156 Ic Ealdhelm brohte to Ine Wessexena kyncge & to Æþelræde Myrcena kyncge þas privilegia, þæt sind syndrie freodomas þe se apostolica papa Sergius awrat to ðæra apostola mynstre Petres & Paules. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 963 And ic wille þet ealle þa freodom

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& ealle þa forgiuenesse þe mine forgengles geafen [sc. to St Peter's monastery] þet hit stande. ?a1417 in M. Sellers York Memorandum Bk. (1912) I. 222 (MED) In grete hinderyng of the kynges poeple and in brekynges of fredom of the citee. c1436 Domesday Ipswich (BL Add. 25011) in T. Twiss Black Bk. Admiralty (1873) II. 129 Everech son of a burgeys..render to the baillives of the toun the swerd with which his father was sworen to meyntenyn the fredom [Fr. fraunchise] of the toun. 1493 in Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes (1839) I. 287/1 Vsurping apon the fredomez & priuilegis of the said burghe.

1600 W. SHAKESPEARE Merchant of Venice IV. i. 38 If you deny it, let the danger light vpon your charter and your Citties freedome .

1612 M. DRAYTON Poly-olbion xi. 180 The great Freedoms then those Kings to these [Universities] did giue.

1673 W. TEMPLE Observ. United Provinces i. 8 Cities and Towns; of which the old had their ancient Freedoms and Jurisdictions confirmed, or others annexed. 1751 J. G. Appeal to Facts 46 The Hans Towns in lower Germany, as Bruges and Sluys by their Situation, as well as by the Immunities and Freedoms granted them by their Earls, became possessed of the Staple of English Wool.

1828 W. SCOTT Fair Maid of Perth vii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 177 He is the Provost of Perth, and..must see the freedoms and immunities of the burgh preserved.

1889 J. ROSS Land of Manfred 75 He..abolished all freedoms granted to the town by antecedent rulers.

1959 P. ZUCKER Town & Square from Agora to Village Green iii. 71 A historically unique international commercial federation, based entirely on urban rights and freedoms granted to these German towns in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

1998 B. A. HANAWALT Of Good & Ill Repute ii. 22 The royal ceremony established the dependency of the mayor and the city's freedoms on the king's pleasure.

c. †A city or corporation possessing such immunity (obsolete); the district 1 over which the immunity extends; the liberties (see LIBERTY n. 6c). Now rare.

1423 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 134 (MED) Barges and Ferybotes and othir vessels that be commynge & goynge in the fredom of the Citee. 1492 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 47 A lettre to eschete al wol that gais oute of the fredome. 1512 in M. Livingstone Reg. Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum (1908) I. 367/2 Makand him custumar of the burgh and fredome of Dunde enduring the Kingis will.

1579 T. TWYNE tr. Petrarch Phisicke against Fortune II. Ep. Ded. 160 b The actes and lawes of certeine Municipies or freedomes.

1615 R. HAMOR True Disc. Present Estate Virginia 31 [He] gaue it the name of the new Bermudas, whereunto he hath laid out, and annexed to be belonging to the freedome, and corporation for euer, many miles of Champion, and woodland.

1766 J. ENTICK Surv. London in New Hist. London IV. 306 Passing over Tower-hill, they come again into

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the freedom.

1892 W. BESANT London ix. 434 While within the City itself there were oil-lamps set up at regular intervals in all the streets, there were none outside the Freedom.

1951 H. V. MORTON In Search of London v. 149 Temple Bar..marks the boundary of the Freedom of London and the beginning of the Liberty of Westminster.

14.

a. The right of participating in the privileges attached to membership of a guild, company, etc.; (also) the liberty or right to practise a trade.

1423 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 150 (MED) The names þe wheche hauen paied yn partie of payment dyuerse percell of monye for her Fredam and her Entres of þe Fraternite, & welen paie nomor. 1440 in B. Marsh Rec. Worshipful Company Carpenters (1914) II. 4 Rescewyd of stewene heyne for hys fredome, xxxiij s. iiij d. 1520 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1887) I. 2 That na man enter to the fredoum of the gild bot he that sall pay v li. 1574 St. A. Baxter Bks. 21 All on-fre man that sall happin to..ressaue the fredome of the craft..sall pay..ten pundis mair for thair fredome, togidder with ane dennar as efferis. 1604 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1887) I. 383 Quhatsomever gild brother wretis cartallis..sall..tyne his fredome.

1644 R. BOOTHBY True Declar. Intollerable Wrongs 29 Disfranchised of all freedom or comfort in that Company, of whom I had well deserved.

1712 J. ARBUTHNOT Law is Bottomless-pit iv. 9 Lewis Baboon had taken up the trade of Clothier and Draper, without serving his Time, or Purchasing his Freedom. 1727 Reasons for improving Fisheries, & Linnen Manuf. Scotl. 15 Of no better Consequence, than if a private Dealer was admitted to the Freedom of Trade in a Corporation, without a Stock to carry it on.

1746 H. WALPOLE Let. 1 Aug. in Corr. (1954) XIX. 288 It was lately proposed in the City, to present him [sc. the Duke of Hamilton] with the freedom of some company. 1850 Times 27 Feb. 5/2 The Goldsmiths' Company intend to confer the freedom of their ancient guild upon his Lordship. 1887 Publ. Amer. Econ. Assoc. 2 90 The journeyman always looked forward to the period when he would be admitted to the freedom of the trade. 1911 Musical Times 52 541/1 At a meeting of the Court of the Musicians' Company it was..unanimously resolved to bestow upon the Lord Mayor the honorary freedom of the Company. 1998 Carriage Driving Aug. 9/1 In 1997..he was awarded the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers.

b. The right of participating in the privileges attached to citizenship of a town or city (in later use chiefly as an honour conferred upon an eminent

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or distinguished person).

a1425 (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Deeds xxii. 28 The tribune answeride: Y with myche summe gat this fredom [L. civilitatem]. And Poul seide; And Y was borun a citeseyn of Rome. 1428 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 5 (MED) John Lyllyng..prayed yam yai wald vouchesaufe to restor hym to hys fredom of ye cite, and take of hym yarfor c li. 1454 in E. W. W. Veale Great Red Bk. Bristol (1938) II. 50 (MED) Thei Stonde in the same Fredome as a man boron in ynglond or Walys.

1579 W. FULKE Refut. Rastels Confut. in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 742 Our franches, freedom, or conuersation is in heauen.

1606 P. HOLLAND tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars Annot. 2 Unlesse they might be donati civitate. i. enioy the Franchises and Freedome of Rome.

1695 W. ATWOOD Rights & Authority Commons of London 25 They might be admitted to the Freedom of the City.

1748 T. SMOLLETT Roderick Random II. lxix. 362 The magistrates intended next day to compliment us with the freedom of their town.

1772 J. WESLEY Jrnl. 28 Apr. (1773) 62 They presented me with the freedom of the city. 1774 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 195 Admitted to the freedom free gratis.

1864 W. H. AINSWORTH John Law III. VI. iii. 85 The freedom of his native city of Edinburgh was transmitted to him in a valuable gold box. 1885 Act 48 & 49 Victoria c. 29 An Act to enable Municipal Corporations to confer the Honorary Freedom of Boroughs upon persons of distinction. 1907 Times 16 May 11/3 Four Colonial Premiers..visited Bristol yesterday to receive the freedom of the city and attend [etc.]. 1994 Law & Social Inq. 19 104 Nine-tenths of all London citizens had entered the freedom through obtaining apprenticeship and guild membership. 1996 TNT Mag. 8 July 12/3 Mr Mandela is to..receive the freedom of London and honorary doctorates from eight universities.

†c. A fee or fine paid to acquire the freedom of a company, or the right to practise a trade; = freedom fine n. at Compounds 3. Obsolete.

1724 D. DEFOE Tour Great Brit. I. II. 77 Unencumbered with the Corporation Burthens, Freedoms, Town Duties, Services, and the like.

1759 O. GOLDSMITH Bee 3 Nov. 139 Exclusive of the masters, there are numberless faulty expences among the workmen; clubs, garnishes, freedoms, and such like impositions.

15. In extended use: unrestricted use of or access to something; the free run of a place.

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1623 J. WEBSTER Deuils Law-case V. sig. K4 v Pray Gentlemen, let the freedome of this Roome Be mine a little.

1652 M. NEDHAM tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 155 Hee would not permit Merchants and Sea-men to enjoy a freedom of that Sea..but at an extraordinarie rate.

1697 W. DAMPIER New Voy. around World xix. 528 They having the freedom of our Ship, to go to and fro between Decks.

a1734 R. NORTH Life F. North (1742) 178 These Brothers..had the Freedom of the Gardens and Library.

1754 D. GARRICK Let. (1963) I. 203 If you chuse to relinquish Your right to ye freedom of Drury-Lane Playhouse, you certainly will do as you please. 1831 Monthly Rev. Jan. 27 Let any competent person just peruse the extracts which we have made—(we shall give him the freedom of the whole work for the same purpose).

1862 J. H. BURTON Book-hunter (1863) 48 Having conferred on you the freedom of the library, he will not concern himself by observing how you use it.

1917 C. D. HAZEN French Revolution & Napoleon ii. 128 They considered that they had the freedom of the place, hissing unpopular speakers, vociferating their wishes.

1990 V. S. NAIPAUL India: Million Mutinies (1991) i. 113 We were joined..by a man I had seen in the house before, one of those silent, unintroduced, unexplained people who appeared to have the freedom of the house.

PHRASES

Noun phrases with of. 1 Many of the phrases listed here are paralleled by uses of liberty: see LIBERTY n. Phrases 2. a.

freedom of will n. (also freedom of the will) chiefly Philosophy and Theology free will; the ability to choose freely.

?c1400 (▸c1380) G. CHAUCER tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) V. pr. iv. l. 4674 Þan ne weneþ it nat þat fredom of wille [L. arbitrii libertatem] be distourbed or ylett by prescience.

?1506 COUNTESS OF RICHMOND tr. J. de Gruytrode Mirroure of Golde (Pynson) sig. H.iiiv Mercy, strength, beautye, lyghtnes, fredome of wyll, shalbe to the right wyse people.

1561 T. NORTON tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. II. f. 16v The naturall desire in men to be well, maketh nothing to proue the fredome of wyll, no more than in metalles and stones, doth the affection inclinyng to the perfection of their substance.

1649 J. MILTON Εικονοκλαστης vi. 56 He confesses a rational sovrantie of soule, and freedom of will in every man.

1674 N. FAIRFAX Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 8 'Tis enough there, for the freedom of the will to stand alone in spontaneitate ad bonum, or self-willingness to good.

1767 W. BLACKSTONE Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 2) II. xxxii. 497 Such persons, as are intestable for want of

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liberty or freedom of will.

1783 B. DAWSON Necessitarian iii. 8 You are desired, Cleanthes, to inform me..whether you are a Necessitarian in the strictest sense, or only deny absolute Freedom of Will. 1800 Gentleman's Mag. Aug. 754/1 What is a world,..left to the conduct of blind chance, or directed by general and unchangeable law, by which all freedom of will must be made useless?

1884 F. TEMPLE Relations Relig. & Sci. (1885) iii. 80 The freedom of the will is not shown in acting without motive, but in choosing between motives. 1923 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Criminal Law & Criminol. 14 223 The punishableness of an act, in itself criminal, presupposes reason and freedom of will in the actor.

1972 J. CAMPBELL Myths to live By (1988) iv. 76 Man has been given..release to an existence of his own, endued with a certain freedom of will.

2012 S. HARRIS Free Will 16 If you want a second scoop of ice cream and no one is forcing you to eat it, then eating a second scoop is fully demonstrative of your freedom of will.

freedom of conscience n. freedom to follow one's own beliefs in matters of religion and morality, esp. when regarded as a right. In early use referring specifically to the ability of individuals to make independent moral decisions.

?c1400 (▸c1380) G. CHAUCER tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) I. pr. iv. l. 287 For þis libertee haþ fredom of conscience þat þe wraþþe of more myȝty folk haþ alwey ben despised of me for saluacioun of ryȝt.

1563 BP. J. PILKINGTON Burnynge of Paules Church sig. J.iiiiv Such obstinate blinde Papistes as will not learne the fredome of conscience taught in the Scriptures, and serue the lorde in singlenes of hart, but put their hole deuocion in outward obseruation of mans traditions.

1585 T. BILSON True Difference Christian Subiection I. 23 Their princely power, which the nobles restraine and Commons receiue with this prouiso, that their accustomed freedome of conscience bee no way prohibited or interrupted.

1644 W. PRYNNE Full Reply Observ. Prynne's Twelve Questions 15 If every man ought to have freedom of conscience..you must indulge Papists this liberty as well as others.

1657 S. CLARKE Eighty Eight Revived 21 in Englands Remembrancer The demands for the Queen were..That they might have liberty to serve God with Freedom of Conscience.

1712 D. DEFOE Enq. Danger & Consequences War with Dutch 15 How destructive to the Safety of Religion, to the Freedom of Conscience! 1790 Pennsylvania Gaz. 10 Feb. 2/1 The National Assembly..have lately made two or three fundamental strokes towards liberty and freedom of conscience. 1839 Observer 28 Jan. The Liberal papers, on behalf of the Dissenters of England, loudly complain of this attempted blow to freedom of conscience.

1874 N. S. DODGE Stories of Grandfather about Amer. Hist. iv. 39 As soon as it became known that Maryland law gave freedom of conscience, settlers began to come from all the world. 1931 Times 24 Apr. 14/4 The new régime's policy of freedom of conscience does not allow of the imposition

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of oaths.

1999 L. KENNEDY All in Mind vi. 148 Freedom of conscience was beginning to creep in and with it the freedom to try out other forms of Christian belief.

freedom of speech n. freedom to express one's opinions without censorship, legal penalty, or any other restraint, esp. when regarded as a right.

1567 T. STAPLETON Counterblast III. xxi. f. 308v S. Iohn the Baptiste, who died for the lyke liberty and fredome of speache, as S. Quillian, and S. Lamberte did. 1645 Disc. Myst. New State 20 They have denied all the Loyall Nobility and Gentry the freedom of Speech, which is the greatest Priviledge of Parliament Critically. 1681 Protestant (Domestick) Intelligence 25 Mar. 1/2 I am humbly to apply to Your Majesty..that in our Debates, Liberty and Freedom of Speech may be allowed us.

1701 D. DEFOE Memorial Setting up to Bully your Sovereign, [is] contrary to the intent and meaning of that Freedom of Speech, which you claim as a Right. 1789 Bill of Rights (U.S. Congr.) 4 Mar. (single sheet) Article 3rd [‘1st Amendm.’] Congress shall make no law..abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

1849 G. GROTE Hist. Greece V. II. xliii. 304 An organizer of that systematic espionage which broke up all freedom of speech. 1888 Commonweal 3 Mar. 68/1 The struggle for the elementary right of freedom of speech, of which the events of Bloody Sunday formed such a dramatic episode. 1945 Sun (Baltimore) 6 Oct. 4/1 It is an order imposing freedom of speech, thought, religion and assembly on the Japanese people.

1967 S. TERKEL Division Street VII. 164 These smart-alec upstarts, because we have freedom of speech, are allowed to go and more or less demoralize people.

2004 H. KENNEDY Just Law (2005) iii. 101 Because of the sacrosanct constitutional right to freedom of speech the media and lawyers can talk about cases..openly.

freedom of religion n. freedom to practise the religion of one's choice, esp. when regarded as a right.

1573 tr. F. Hotman True Rep. Outrages Fraunce p. xiiii Albeit the King had in manye Edictes before that time permitted the freedome of Religion, yet his meaning euer was to reteyne and cause to be reteyned of all men, the onely Romishe or Popishe Religion within his Realme.

1635 E. PAGITT Christianographie 15 In Austria freedome of Religion was granted by the Emperors Maximillian and Matthias.

1680 E. BORLASE Hist. Execrable Irish Rebellion 34 A rebellious and scandalous Letter,..full of pretended

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Grievances, and unreasonable Demands, as namely, to have freedom of Religion. 1707 Daily Courant 27 Dec. 1/2 As for enlarging the Freedom of Religion in Upper Silesia and elsewhere, this Court will venture all Consequences rather than submit to it.

1788 T. JEFFERSON Let. 7 Feb. in Papers (1955) XII. 571 By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. 1819 Port Folio (Philadelphia) Apr. 325 We have freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, and why should we not enjoy a freedom of fashions? 1901 Times of India 24 Dec. 4/5 Freedom of religion is one of our mottoes, and we can have no State interference with religion in India. 1950 Newsweek 23 Jan. 45/3 It was pretty well agreed that the right to two official languages, freedom of religion, and provincial control over education would be ‘entrenched’ clauses of the constitution [of Canada].

2001 N.Y. Times 4 Nov. IV. 5/4 (advt.) The American commitment to free speech and freedom of religion..has emerged as a North Star giving guidance amidst the chaos and tragedy.

freedom of thought n. freedom to think or reason without restriction or interference; (also) free will.

1591 S. COTTESFORD Treat. against Traitors sig. B8v If this be so that a man hath not freedom of thought against a ruler of the people, how much then are they giltie of capitall crime before God and men, who do proceed not to disclosing, but to counsell giuing.

1629 T. JACKSON Treat. Divine Essence I. 101 This infinite variety of choice or freedome of thought in man and Angels.

1687 W. POPPLE Rational Catech. 1 We ar now at som leisure from our ordinary Occupations, and have therby the advantage of enjoying that freedom of Thought which is inconsistant with the Cares of the World. 1718 Free-thinker No. 1. 2 Freedom of Thought is like Freedom in Actions.

1776 C. BURNEY Gen. Hist. Music I. Pref. p. xiii Freedom of thought, unshackled by the trammels of authority.

1840 J. S. MILL in London & Westm. Rev. 33 298 We must be looking for a religious philosophy, and our main hope ought to be that it will be such a one as fulfils the conditions of a philosophy—the very foremost of which is, unrestricted freedom of thought. 1863 Sat. Rev. 2 May 554 The French Academy is now the last resting-place in France of freedom of thought.

a1918 J. WEST Hist. Chartist Movement (1920) ii. 49 The agitations for freedom of thought, an unstamped press, Owenist Socialism..and the Reform movement. 1941 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 26 289 It is freedom of thought itself and when thought is free what can bind us?

2004 J. PATON WALSH in Slightly Foxed Winter 65 The Czech Government's assertions..that there was freedom of thought and association behind the Iron Curtain.

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freedom of the press n. freedom to print and publish anything without interference or censorship, esp. when regarded as a right. The narrowness with which this right is interpreted varies; published works may still be subject to legal action, for example in the case of libellous or criminal material. In the United States, freedom of the press is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution: see quot. 1789.

1646 H. HAMMOND View Exceptions to Visct. Falkland's Disc. Infallibilitie To Rdr. sig. A3 He seemed to wish the same freedome of the Presse, which his Lordship had found.

1662 R. L'ESTRANGE Truth & Loyalty Vindicated 54 This freedom of the Press, had so manifest an Influence upon the minds of the People.

1776 G. MASON Virginia Decl. Rights xii That the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments. 1789 Bill of Rights (U.S. Congr.) 4 Mar. (single sheet) Article 3rd [‘1st Amendm.’] Congress shall make no law..abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. 1819 Times 8 Dec. 3/4 This bill..appears to us to be a most dangerous invasion of the just freedom of the press.

1866 W. COLLINS Armadale II. III. viii. 89 Have you dropped into the Reading Rooms, and seen what they call the freedom of the press in the town newspaper?

1906 F. S. OLIVER Alexander Hamilton V. ii. 381 The rectitudinous inquisition that is enjoyed under the freedom of the press. 1938 Foreign Service Feb. 52/3 Freedom of the press, one of the inherent rights of the American people, cannot exist under dictatorships. 2004 Guardian 18 Oct. (Media section) 9/3 It is a system in which there is no freedom of the press, where justice is undermined and where the military hierarchy is allowed to hold sway.

freedom of expression n. (a) frankness or openness in the expression of one's thoughts, feelings, etc.; cf. sense 8a; (b) the right to express oneself without interference or censorship; cf. sense 4a.

1650 B. GERBIER Art of Well Speaking 12 The Art of Eloquence, and of well speaking, require both Art and Nature together; as..a disposition in all the Organs, abundance of fluent conceptions,..freedome of expression, [etc.].

1730 T. LUCAS Distinctions amongst Protestants 33 Some choose to pray to God, and praise him in a stinted Form of Words, others with greater Liberty and Freedom of Expression.

1769 J. POTTER Hist. Arthur O'Bradley viii. 112 Therefore, my dear Lady, make no Apology for your Freedom of Expression, it is the genuine Dictates of an honest Heart.

1850 G. J. HOLYOAKE Hist. Last Trial for Atheism in Eng. 87 Socialism had always attached great importance to freedom of expression. 1874 Mass. Teacher Feb. 72 Give your pupils freedom of expression in the earliest stages of their studies. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/74395?result=1&rskey=iwydtW&&print Page 21 of 29 freedom, n. : Oxford English Dictionary 2/20/20, 13:15

1900 Times 26 Feb. 8/4 An immunity from Press criticism, which, if enforced by episcopal authority, must inevitably mean an absolute disintegration of lay Catholic opinion, and annihilation of its freedom of expression. 1986 New Scientist 20 Nov. 79/1 In this stimulating atmosphere, receptive to new ideas, your freedom of expression will be gladly indulged. 2009 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Jan. 58/3 Since the Human Rights Act.., newspapers have been able to point to Article 10, which gives a measure of protection for freedom of expression.

freedom of association n. freedom to socialize or form an association with whom one pleases, esp. when regarded as a right.

1833 T. FRY Domest. Portraiture v. 149 The future transition from these restraints to the almost unbounded freedom of association at school, proved injurious to Nugent. 1838 Philanthropist 27 Mar. It is only in a republic, with a perfectly free press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association, that such potent means could have been so rapidly and extensively organized. 1889 Polit. Sci. Q. 4 180 How can freedom of labor be reconciled with freedom of association?

1913 H. G. JAMES Princ. Prussian Admin. vii. 232 Prior to that time, societies in general were forbidden and political assemblies not allowed. On April 6, 1848, a measure of freedom of association was proclaimed. 1968 Times 11 Oct. 11/3 The Northern Ireland Government, in the interest of freedom of association, permitted the demonstration to take place.

2013 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 19 Apr. B3 The Charter of Rights provides for free expression, freedom of association.

COMPOUNDS

C1. a. General attributive.

freedom movement n.

1891 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 3 Mar. 3/4 The younger element, which knows little if anything about England, is rapidly becoming enthusiastic for the freedom movement.

1962 M. N. SRINIVAS Caste in Mod. India 100 The leaders of the freedom movement also felt the need to carry the people with them in their struggle.

2002 G. DE JONG Different Day Introd. 6 It is difficult to see how the freedom movement of the 1960s could have emerged from among the fearful, apolitical black southerners depicted in some studies of the period.

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freedom struggle n.

1913 G. PUTMAN Southland N. Amer. xvi. 317 A youth that saw Spain in its glory and antedated the freedom struggle of the thirteen colonies.

1985 G. HALL Fighting Racism iii. 112 It is essential for the Afro-American freedom struggle..that more and more Communists be in that great battle. 2004 Sikh Times 18 Mar. 3/5 Sahota..spoke unambiguously of the need to take forward the freedom struggle.

b. Objective.

freedom-giving adj.

a1719 J. ADDISON Wks. (1721) I. 472 Since bent beneath the load of years I stand, I too might claim the freedom-giving wand.

1839 J. G. WHITTIER Wks. (1898) 192 Freedom-giving voice. 1940 Social Forces 18 513 That interesting transitional stage between a rigidly controlled rural social order and a freedom-giving emancipated urban social order. 2006 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 18 Nov. 78 Many of these open-minded, well-ordered and freedom- giving chaps also believed that souls from non-Christian cultures were doomed to spend eternity roasting in hell.

freedom-hating adj.

1856 T. R. HAZARD Constit. Man. for National Amer. Party 24/1 From whatever quarter the measure may have ostensibly originated,..it was concocted by that freedom hating fraternity.

1958 M. S. ANDERSON Britain's Discov. Russia, 1553–1815 viii. 204 She [sc. Catherine II] now increasingly appeared brutal, despotic and freedom-hating.

2007 Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News (Nexis) 7 July B5 It's high time we take back our country..from the fear-mongering, freedom-hating neocon criminals who have hijacked the Republican Party.

freedom-lover n.

1862 White Rose of Chayleigh III. v. 100 I am too much of a freedom-lover to put myself voluntarily into bondage.

1958 R. M. MILLER Amer. Protestantism & Social Issues vii. 105 It is curious..that this..freedom lover should have looked upon Soviet Russia with such great admiration. 2007 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 25 Jan. 23 The former leader's eventual demise should give at least some satisfaction to freedom-lovers everywhere.

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freedom-loving adj.

1745 J. WHALEY Coll. Poems & Transl. 34 Who join'd the glorious Freedom-loving Crew.

1841 H. S. FOOTE Texas & Texans I. 102 The descendants of..freedom-loving ancestors in Texas nobly resolved to imperil their lives.

1942 W. S. CHURCHILL End of Beginning (1943) 122 We shall..build a sure peace for all freedom-loving peoples. 2004 Independent 1 Jan. (Review section) 8/4 Hell's Angels..are little more than eccentric, freedom-loving wild men who live for their motorcycles.

C2. attributive. U.S. (originally North American). Designating something given upon the completion of an apprenticeship, esp. clothing to be worn in the practice of the relevant trade or profession. Now historical.

1694 Colonial Rec. N. Carolina I. 407 Ye sd cloth he received upon the account of his ffredome cloths. 1828 Yankee & Boston Literary Gaz. 9 Apr. 115/1 A homespun jacket with pewter buttons and a pair of leather-breeches, formed his freedom-suit. 1842 Boston Transcript 14 Dec. 2/4 We well remember the ‘Freedomtreat’ given at the hospitable mansion of his master.

1938 E. P. ALEXANDER Revolutionary Conservative iv. 64 Then he was accused by John Myers of withholding his freedom clothes. 1993 Winterthur Portfolio 28 260/1 Their apprentices received board, clothing, a freedom-suit,..and some formal schooling.

C3.

freedom box n. now historical (esp. in Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries) a box designed to hold a document granting the freedom of a town or city.

1755 ‘S. M'CLEAVER’ Ireland in Tears 3 Many Proposals for Addresses, Freedom-Boxes, and other Marks of public Gratitude.

1779 W. CHARRON (title) A description of the freedom box, voted by the City of London, to the Hon. Augustus Keppel, Admiral of the Blue.

1911 C. J. JACKSON Illustr. Hist. Eng. Plate II. xxix. 913 Lord Carbery owns an interesting silver-gilt freedom- box..which was presented by the borough of Bandon-Bridge to George, the third Baron Carbery in 1760. 2006 Irish Independent (Nexis) 14. Apr. The museum wanted to get their hands on the freedom boxes awarded to Tom and Kathleen Clarke when they were granted freedom of the city of Limerick.

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freedom ceremony n. chiefly British a ceremony in which the freedom of a town, city, etc., is conferred on a person (cf. sense 14b).

1897 Westm. Gaz. 26 Aug. 8/1 It [sc. the speech] was somewhat out of place at a ‘freedom’ ceremony. 1930 Times 9 June 7 A small company met Sir James Barrie at luncheon before the freedom ceremony. 2007 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 26 Apr. 6 Mr Hardie said the trio provided the entertainment at Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's Freedom ceremony.

freedom fighter n. a person who fights for freedom or liberation; a person who takes part in a resistance movement against the established political system of a country; also in extended use.

1910 E. P. TENNEY Looking Forward into Past v. 47 His brother was a Kansas freedom-fighter, and denizen of the great plains. 1941 Mansfield (Ohio) News-Jrnl. 30 Dec. 2/5 Two German divisions imperilled by Yugoslav ‘freedom fighters’ well equipped with heavy and light and [sic] machine-guns. 1951 Times 11 Aug. 5/4 Mr. Ben-Gurion..has refused to work either with the Communists or..with Cherut, the successors of the ‘Freedom Fighters’ of Irgun Zvai Leumi. 1962 Listener 20 Dec. 1042/2 The Information Minister [in Jakarta] had urged the press to support the freedom fighters in northern Borneo. 1969 Daily Nation (Nairobi) 31 Oct. 16/1 Freedom fighters ring Portuguese territories and Rhodesia with the support of African governments, if not always full acknowledgement.

2002 C. SWANTON Virtue Ethics ix. 202 Nelson Mandela may have found it harder to eschew the duties of a freedom fighter than to impose sacrifices on his family.

freedom fighting adj. and n. (a) adj. that fights for freedom or liberation; (b) n. the action of fighting for freedom or liberation; (armed) resistance against the established political system of a country.

1915 Times 30 Dec. 15 The loftiest appeals that ever rang in the ears of freedom fighting humanity.

1947 A. LAHIRI Said Subhas Bose 1 The external one typifies the armed freedom-fighting movement launched in East Asia by over two million Indians. 1957 Winnipeg Free Press 9 Jan. 5/2 Mr. Sralai did not take an active part in the freedom fighting. 1980 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 20 Dec. 25/5 The fight against apartheid should, and will, continue, but the tragic self-destruction of freedom-fighting must cease. 2006 N.Y. Times Mag. 25 June 75/3 MacShane has always been enamored of the freedom-fighting side of his country.

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freedom fine n. now historical a payment made on being admitted to the freedom of a city, guild, or corporation.

1684 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1905) III. 354 That ilk prenteis..after his prenteiship..shall be obleiged to pay ten merkis for his freedome fyne. 1762 Petition Incorporation of Tailors 6 There shall be no freeman-tailor admitted and received within the said incorporation, except they pay their freedom-fine, and other dues.

1862 C. CAPPER Port & Trade of London i. 56 The steps by which the Society of Merchant-Adventurers had risen to such importance as to be able to increase their freedom fines from 6s. 8d. to 40l. 1980 Eng. Hist. Rev. 95 416 [The book] deals mainly with routine matters: complaints against foreign traders, the granting of town leases, freedom fines.

freedom march n. originally and chiefly U.S. a march in celebration of or in support of freedom; esp. = freedom walk n.

1947 Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard 2 Nov. 1/1 (heading) 40,000 persons view freedom march in city. 1954 Great Bend (Kansas) Daily Tribune 21 Jan. 13/6 Former soldiers of the Red armies who had refused repatriation in rejecting Communism, start their freedom march. 1960 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 18 May 7/5 Two thousand Negro students defied pleas to cancel a publicized ‘freedom march’ on Georgia's state capitol Tuesday.

1962 L. HUGHES Fight for Freedom vi. 191 In Memphis a young father pushed a baby carriage..down Main Street in a Freedom March.

1984 C. HOPE Kruger's Alp xi. 139 He took part in freedom marches in Lagos.

2004 W. J. V. NEILL Urban Planning & Cultural Identity iv. 125 Martin Luther King's..‘free at last’ speech..had been preceded in July by an unprecedented freedom march of 200 000 people down Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

freedom papers n. U.S. (now historical) documents proclaiming the holder to be a free person (as opposed to a slave); also occasionally in singular.

1821 Torch Light & Public Advertiser (Hagers-Town, Maryland) 27 Nov. 1/3 It is more likely he will make for Philadelphia.., and that he has procured a pass or the freedom papers of some mulatto man.

1969 J. R. BRACKETT Negro in Maryland iii. 77 By the act of 1796, a free black who allowed a slave to use his freedom paper, by means of which the slave escaped, could be fined not over three hundred dollars.

2007 Washington Post (Nexis) 1 Apr. BW5 Armed with forged freedom papers..they took a ferry across the Ohio River to Indiana.

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organized ride (in buses, etc.) by people demonstrating against racial segregation.

1961 Barnard (N.Y.) Bull. 17 Apr. 3/1 (heading) Freedom ride and sit-ins aid in war on segregation. 1965 Times 2 Dec. 13/3 Earlier this year there was a so-called ‘freedom ride’ by university students from Sydney who made a long bus trip through northern New South Wales.

1970 A. TOFFLER Future Shock (1974) viii. 160 After the freedom rides..only the pathological could hang on to the long-cherished notion that blacks are ‘happy children’ content with their poverty.

1989 C. R. WILSON & W. FERRIS Encycl. Southern Culture 160/1 Participation in the Freedom Rides allowed young students to display their militancy.

freedom rider n. U.S. (now historical) a person who takes part in a freedom ride.

1961 Modesto (Calif.) Bee 15 May 1/1 (headline) Alabamans brutally attack racial ‘freedom riders’. 1965 Times 25 Feb. 9/5 The small town of Bowraville, New South Wales, was thrown into uproar tonight when ‘freedom riders’ picketed a cinema as a protest against segregation of aborigines.

1989 A. WALKER Temple of my Familiar V. 298 I saw the Freedom Riders, black and white, beaten up in Mississippi.

2004 K. MILLS Changing Channels ii. 72 The Mississippi Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of a group of Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson in 1961.

freedom scroll n. chiefly British a scroll commemorating the conferring of the freedom of a town, city, etc., on a particular person (cf. sense 14b).

1841 J. MONTGOMERY in J. Everett & J. Holland Mem. Life & Writings James Montgomery (1856) VI. lxxxvii. 52 My freedom-scroll presented with many very fine and cordial congratulations.

1969 E. H. PINTO Treen 267 An unusual freedom scroll container, in the form of a cannon. 2001 Navy News Sept. 30/3 The Freedom scroll and casket will be kept at Rotherham Town Hall.

freedom song n. a song about or in praise of freedom, esp. from slavery, oppression, etc.; (South African) a strongly political song or chant of a type sung at protest gatherings and demonstrations, typically in a formulaic call-and-response style.

1858 W. G. BROWN in A. M. Hemenway Poets & Poetry Vermont 2 And still outrings her freedom-song, Amid the glaciers sparkling there. 1869 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Times 17 June 1/2 We'll sing a freedom song.

1962 A. FUGARD Notebks. (1983) 53 Between speeches the Africans were led in ‘Freedom’ songs by one of the

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men on the platform.

1990 C. E. LINCOLN & L. H. MAMIYA Black Church in Afr.-Amer. Experience 369 The abolitionist element of unconditional liberation that supplied the radical edge which rounded out the character of the freedom songs. 2003 N.Y. Mag. 24 Feb. 56/1 Freedom songs from South Africa's black townships are the lifeblood of this scattershot but rousing documentary.

freedom walk n. originally and chiefly U.S. a walk or march organized as a form of political demonstration, esp. (now historical) as a protest against racial segregation; cf. freedom ride n.

1957 Hammond (Indiana) Times 24 Dec. C6/5 ‘Peace Pilgrim’, a silver-haired woman from Cologne, N.J.,..said she was on her second 10,000-mile freedom walk today. 1960 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 30 Apr. 2/5 The newly formed Freedom Walk Committee..combined a Cornell student group with interested persons from the county. 1967 Word Study Dec. 7/2 There were..‘freedom walks’ across Southern states in 1962 and 1963. 1994 Michigan Law Rev. 92 2315 The movement was extraparliamentary in form and consisted of protest marches, sit-ins, freedom rides, freedom walks, and economic boycotts.

freedom walker n. (a) U.S. a person who takes part in a freedom walk (now chiefly historical); (b) New Zealand a hiker travelling without a guide.

1961 Chicago Daily Defender 17 Aug. 10/2 Really now, aren't the freedom riders, freedom walkers, freedom swimmers, freedom sitters and freedom etc. going a little too far?

1977 A. WOODFIELD & D. COWIE in Austral. Jrnl. Agric. Econ. 21 98 The Track may be walked in either of two ways. First, the Tourist Hotel Corporation offers guided tours..for persons with relatively little tramping experience. These people we have termed ‘tourist walkers’... The second group are called ‘freedom walkers’ and are usually trampers of some experience who carry their entire equipment.

2001 E. JORDAN & A. GORDON-REED Vernon can Read! vii. 163 One Freedom Walker was killed just as the group crossed the Tennessee state line into Alabama. 2006 Sunday Star-Times (Auckland) (Nexis) 17 Sept. (Travel section) 8 Guided tramping is different from the pack-on-your back, boil-the-billy-when-you-feel-like-it experience of the freedom walker.

DERIVATIVES

ˈfreedomless adj. without freedom.

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1821 LD. BYRON Irish Avatar 1 Famine, which dwelt on her freedomless crags.

1914 I. S. COBB Local Color (1916) i. 21 They had merely conspired..to cheat the state of New York out of sundry years of free board and freedomless lodgings.

2001 A. KLAMER in S. Cullenberg et al. Twilight Press Freedom iii. 66 People in the freedomless two thirds of the world seem satisfied with their press situation.

ˈfreedomship n. now rare the fact of possessing freedom (in various senses).

1583 A. GOLDING tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie cxxxvi. 838/1 Baptisme..was ministred with such reuerence, that..the congregation was assembled together, as if one were to receiue an holy freedomship [Fr. vne bourgeoisie sacree].

1645 G. DOWNING Let. in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1863) 4th Ser. VI. 539 I am perswaded thers not the meanest of these 3 or foure men they so tosse and tumble, but if chosen for life would be able to mannage the affayres of the country far otherwise than now: but with all the limit of freedomship I believe must be sett a little wider.

1880 G. SHAW Twistings & Twinings Timothy Turnabout (ed. 2) ii. 14 In this ancient seaport the honours and emoluments of freedomship were, before the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, obtained in three different ways. 2003 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 15 Apr. 35 The fact that freedomship qualified for voting at elections led to considerable abuse.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008).

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