Search the Dictionary

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. That which has the power, or not the power, to operate, is that alone which is or is not free. Locke.…

In a free manner; without restraint or compulsion; abundantly; gratuitously. Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat. Gen. ii. 16. Freely ye have received, freely give. Matt. x. 8. Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Milton. Freely we serve Because we freely love. Milton.

The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed. Why such impress of shipwrights Shak. Impress gang, a party of men, with an officer, employed to impress seamen for ships of war; a press gang. -- Impress money, a sum of money paid, immediately upon t…

The act of seizing for public use, or of impressing into public service; compulsion to serve; as, the impressment of provisions or of sailors. The great scandal of our naval service -- impressment -- died a protracted death. J. H. Burton.

The power of choice; freedom from necessity; freedom from compulsion or constraint in willing. The idea of liberty is the idea of a power in any agent to do or forbear any particular action, according to the determination or thought of the mind, whereby either of them is preferred to the other. Locke. This liberty of j…

to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. " To lull him soft asleep." Spenser. Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie, To lull the daughters of necessity. Milton.

Acting from necessity or compulsion; involuntary; -- opposed to free; as, whether man is a necessary or a free agent is a question much discussed.

The act of making necessary, or the state of being made necessary; compulsion. [R.] bp. Bramhall.

That which makes an act or an event unavoidable; irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical or moral; fate; fatality. So spake the fiend, and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds. Milton.

d interests, particularly in real estate. It may be effected by consent of parties, or by compulsion of law.

To turn up to view, as if by rooting; to discover; to find. (b) To turn out by force or compulsion; as, to rout people out of bed. [Colloq.]

One who serves, or does services, voluntarily or on compulsion; a person who is employed by another for menial offices, or for other labor, and is subject to his command; a person who labors or exerts himself for the benefit of another, his master or employer; a subordinate helper. "A yearly hired servant." Lev. xxv. 5…

To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection. Mighty in her ships stood Carthage long, . . . Yet stooped to Rome, less wealthy, but more strong. Dryden. These are arts, my prince, In which your Zama does not stoop to Rome. Addison.

To yield to the power of another; to give or deliver up possession of (anything) upon compulsion or demand; as, to surrender one's person to an enemy or to an officer; to surrender a fort or a ship.

Paying tribute to another, either from compulsion, as an acknowledgment of submission, or to secure protection, or for the purpose of purchasing peace. [Julius] unto Rome made them tributary. Chaucer.

Free; without compulsion; according to the will, consent, or agreement, of a party; without consideration; gratuitous; without valuable consideration.

To offer or bestow voluntarily, or without solicitation or compulsion; as, to volunteer one's services.

se whom they would drown to walk off into the water; figuratively, to vacate an office by compulsion. Bartlett.