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To release from restraint or bondage; to set at liberty; to free; to manumit; to disengage; as, to liberate a slave or prisoner; to liberate the mind from prejudice; to liberate gases.

One free from restraint; one who acts according to his impulses and desires; now, specifically, one who gives rein to lust; a rake; a debauchee. Like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. Shak.

Freedom from imprisonment, bonds, or other restraint upon locomotion. Being pent from liberty, as I am now. Shak.

One who acts without restraint, or takes a liberty, as if having a license therefor. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

Hence: Any real or imaginary place of restraint or confinement; a prison; as, to put a man in limbo.

qualifying conception; as, limitations of thought. The cause of error is ignorance what restraints and limitations all principles have in regard of the matter whereunto they are applicable. Hooker.

Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc. ; -- with from or of. Now I stand Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts Addison.

To free from restraint; to set at liberty.. It loosens his hands, and assists his understanding. Dryden.

Excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform. It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. Jer. 1. 88. And being exceedingly mad against them, I…

Extent or degree not excessive or beyong bounds; moderation; due restraint; esp. in the phrases, in measure; with measure; without or beyond measure. Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure. Is. v. 14.

One who favors a form of government in which the unintelligent populace rules without restraint. Bayne.

The act of moderating, or of imposing due restraint.

g obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control. Government must compel the obedience of individuals. Ames.

Subject in will or act to authority; willing to obey; submissive to restraint, control, or command. And floating straight, obedient to the stream. Shak. The chief his orders gives; the obedient band, With due observance, wait the chief's command. Pope.

Beyond the limits of concealment, confinement, privacy, constraint, etc., actual of figurative; hence, not in concealment, constraint, etc., in, or into, a state of freedom, openness, disclosure, publicity, etc.; as, the sun shines out; he laughed out, to be out at the elbows; the secret has leaked out, or is out; the…

Fig.: A curb; a restraint.

f the press, the free right of publishing books, pamphlets, or papers, without previous restraint or censorship, subject only to punishment for libelous, seditious, or morally pernicious matters. -- Press bed, a bed that may be folded, and inclosed, in a press or closet. Boswell. -- Press of sail, (Naut.), as much sa…

son under arrest, or in custody, whether in prison or not; a person held in involuntary restraint; a captive; as, a prisoner at the bar of a court. Bouvier. Prisoner of Hope thou art, -- look up and sing. Keble. Prisoner's base. See Base, n., 24.

essay or exercise. "Domestic prolusions." Thackeray. Her presence was in some measure a restraint on the worthy divine, whose prolusion lasted. Sir W. Scott.

t contagious disease, is obliged to forbear all intercourse with the shore; hence, such restraint or inhibition of intercourse; also, the place where infected or prohibited vessels are stationed.