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, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. Long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. Not by constraint, but bDryden.

Constraining; compulsory. [R.] "Any constraintive vow." R. Carew.

Freedom from constraint; ease. Felton.

A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.

e state of being compelled; the act of driving or urging by force or by physical or moral constraint; subjection to force. If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. Shak. With what complusion and laborious flight We sunk thus low. Milton.

; by force or constraint.

Capable of being constrained; liable to constraint, or to restraint. Hooker.

Marked by constraint; not free; not voluntary; embarrassed; as, a constrained manner; a constrained tone.

By constraint or compulsion; in a constrained manner. Hooker.

To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds. [Obs., exept as used reflexively.] The king's person contains the unruly people from evil occasions. Spenser. Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves. Shak.

Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty. The agreements . . . made with the landlords during the time of slavery, are only the effect of duress and force. Burke.

Freedom from constraint, formality, difficulty, embarrassment, etc.; facility; liberty; naturalness; -- said of manner, style, etc.; as, ease of style, of behavior, of address. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance. Pope. Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 't was natural to please. Dryde…

Freedom from effort, constraint, or formality; -- said of style, manner, etc. With painful care, but seeming easiness. Roscommon.

At ease; free from pain, trouble, or constraint; as: (a) Free from pain, distress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth…

That which enforces, constraints, gives force, authority, or effect to; constraint; force applied. The rewards and punishment of another life, which the Almighty has established as the enforcements of his law. Locke.

d frequent converse, or association; unconstrained intercourse; freedom from ceremony and constraint; intimacy; as, to live in remarkable familiarity.

The act of forcing; compulsion. [Obs.] It was imposed upon us by constraint; And will you count such forcement treachery J. Webster.

Dependent in form; conventional. Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, Or bound in formal or in real chains. Pope.

Exemption from constraint or oppression; freedom; liberty. [Obs.] Spenser.

Free agency, the capacity or power of choosing or acting freely, or without necessity or constraint upon the will. -- Free bench (Eng. Law), a widow's right in the copyhold lands of her husband, corresponding to dower in freeholds. -- Free board (Naut.), a vessel's side between water line and gunwale. -- Free bond…