Frank 
2. [A readoption of the Oriental form of the 
European name Frank, originating at the time 
of the crusades, when the Franks (that is, the 
French, and by extension the other nations of 
western Europe) became familiar to the Turks, 
Arabs, etc. See Feringee.~\ A European of the 
western nations : a common designation among 
the Turks, Arabs, and other Oriental peoples 
for any western foreigner. 
Trust not for freedom to the Franks. 
They have a king who buys and sells. 
Byron, Don Juan, ill. 86. 
"Franks!" quoth the Arab. . . . " Franks are the fa- 
thers of hats, and do not wear guns or swords, or red caps 
upon their heads, as you do." 
K. Curzon, Monast. in the Levant, p. 172. 
frank 2 (frangk), a. [< ME. frank = D. G. Dan. 
Sw. frank, free, < OF. franc, frank, free, at 
liberty, exempt from subsidies, etc., liberal, 
valiant, etc., honest, etc., = F. franc = Pr. 
franc = Sp. Pg. It. franco, < ML. francos, free, 
at liberty, exempt from service, etc. ; as a noun, 
a free man, a nobleman; prob., and according 
to the usual statement, a generalization of the 
tribal name Frank, OHG.Franko, ML. France, 
a Frank, pi. Franci, the Franks, the 'free' peo- 
ple, in distinction from the tribes in subjection 
to them : see Frank*. Cf. slave"*, a serf, ult. < 
Slave 1 , Slav, a Slavonian. Thus/rawi- 2 has no- 
thing to do, etymologically, with free or with 
freck 1 .] 1. Free; open; unrestrained; uncon- 
ditioned. [Now rare.] 
Thou hast It wonne, for it is of franke gift. 
Speiuer, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 531. 
At that time there is a falre, free an&frankt of al cus- 
tome. Hakluyt'i Voyatjet, 11. 210. 
Thy frank election make ; 
Thou hast power to choose, and they none to forsake. 
Shak., All's Well, 11. S. 
In such frank style the people lived, hating three 
things with all their hearts : idleness, want, and coward- 
ice. Froitde, Sketches, p. 165. 
2. Liberal; generous; not niggardly. [Rare.] 
Thefrante and bountiful! Charter granted by king Ed- 
ward the first. Uakluyt's Voyages, To the Reader. 
Let them be ever so intelligent, and ever so frank of 
their advice. Bacon, .Moral Fables, v., Expl. 
Being/ran*, she [Nature) lends to those are free. 
Shak., Sonnets, Iv. 
3. Free from disguise or concealment; candid 
in utterance; sincere and unreserved in man- 
ner: as, a frank disposition; a, frank avowal. 
This frank nature of his is not for secrets. 
B. Jomon, Epicoene, i. 1. 
4. Freely disclosed; clearly manifest; undis- 
guised; indubitable: as, jrank ignorance or 
poverty. 
The gastric appearances somewhat resembled those 
shown in a case of death after operation for removal of 
the uterine appendage, although there frank peritonitis 
coexisted. Med. Xews, L. 306. 
I find in the performances of these puppets . . . & frank 
admission of unreality that makes every shadow of veri- 
similitude delightful. llowelU, Venetian Life, v. 
5f. Unrestrained; using free license. 
Might not be found afrancker franion, 
Of her leawd parts to make companion. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. il. 37. 
Over the fields, in ]n franke Instinesse, 
And all the champain o're he [a butterfly] soared light. 
Sjienser, Muiopotmos, 1. 148. 
Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside. 
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 71. 
=Syn. 3. Open, Ingenuous, etc. (see candid); plain, un- 
reserved, undisguised. 
frank 2 (frangk), v. t. [= OF. frankir, franquir 
(var. offranchir: see franchise, v.), free, = It. 
francare, free, exempt (and cf. franchise, v.); 
from the adj.: see frank 2 , a.] 1. To send or 
cause to be sent by public conveyance free of 
expense: as, to frank a letter. The privilege of 
franking their own letters through the post, by indorsing 
their names on them, and also of giving franks to their 
friends, belonged to the members of the British Parliament 
from about 1660 till 1840, when it was abolished on the 
establishment of penny postage. The practically unlim- 
ited franking privilege formerly enjoyed by members of 
the United States Congress and many officers of govern- 
ment was abolished in 1873; but provision was afterward 
made for the free transmission of mail-matter relating to 
official business, by the use of special envelops, etc. 
The representatives of the people . . . begin to make 
distinctions, by making exceptions of themselves in the 
laws. They may /rant letters; they are exempted from 
arrests, etc. J. Adams, On Government. 
Hence 2. To facilitate the passage or move- 
ments of ; give the right of way to, as a traveler. 
[Bare.] 
English itself, which will now/rant the traveller through 
the most of North America, through the greater South Sea 
Islands, in India, along much of the coast of Africa, and 
In the ports of China and Japan. 
R. L. Stevenson, The Foreigner at Home. 
2362 
3. In carji., to form the joint of, as that of 
a window-sash where the crosspieces of the 
frame intersect each other, by cutting away no 
more wood than is sufficient to show a miter. 
frank 2 (frangk), . L< frank*, p.] 1. The sig- 
nature or indorsement of a person holding the 
privilege of franking mail-matter, written or 
impressed on the wrapper in token of the right 
of the inclosure to pass free. 
Among some franks which were lately given to me were 
the undermentioned. I should feel much obliged if you 
could inform me . . . what in the succession was the writ- 
er, judging by the date of my frank. 
V. and Q., 6th ser., XII. 10. 
2. A letter thus indorsed, sent by mail free of 
Franklinian 
ments changed in the nature of the tenure by 
feoffment, etc., from knight-service to certain 
yearly service. 
frank-fold (frangk'fold), n. [</rfc2 + / 2.] 
In Eng. law, a liberty to fold sheep, as the right 
of a landlord to fold sheep on the land of his 
tenant; faldage. 
Frankfort black. See black. 
frank-hearted (fraugk'har"ted), a. Having a 
frank, candid disposition. 
frank^t (frangk), n. and a. [< ME. frank, an in- 
closure for fattening swine, poultry, etc., < OF. 
franc, a sty for swine, < franc, free, privileged, 
reserved: see/rawfc 2 .] I. n. A pigsty; a pen 
for fattening boars. 
P. Ben. Where sups he? Doth the old boar feed in the 
old frank > 
Bard. At the old place, my lord ; In Eastcheap. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. >. 
II. a. Sty-fed. See I. 
When they were once franke and fat. they stoode up to- 
gether proudly againste the Lord and his worde. 
Bp. Bale, On Revelation, i., sig. I, iiii. 
frank 3 t (frangk), 0. t. [< ME. franken ; <frank3, 
.] 1. To shut up in a frank or sty: usually 
with up. 
Marry, as for Clarence, he Is well repaid ; 
He Isfrank'd up to fatting for his pains. 
Shak., Rich. III., i. 3. 
In the sty of this molt bloody boar 
My son George Stanley isfrank'd up in hold. 
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 5. 
2. To feed; cram; fatten. 
The/mnJfd hen, fatten'd with milk and corn. 
Middlcton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 
frank 4 t, " A former spelling of franc. 
frank 5 (frangk), n. [Said to be imitative.] A 
name of the heron, Ardca cinerea. [Local, 
Great Britain.] 
frankalmoin, frankalmoigne (frangk 'al- 
moin). . [< OF. franc almoigne, etc.: see 
frank* and oZmoin.] Free almoin ; in Eng. law, 
a tenure of land free from all temporal ser- 
vice ; a tenure by which a religious corporation 
might hold lands to them and their successors 
for ever, on condition of praying for the soul 
of the donor. This Is the tenure by which almost all 
the old monasteries and religious houses held their lands, 
and by which the parochial clergy and very many ecclesi- 
astical and eleemosynary foundations hold them to this 
day, the nature of the service being in the Reformation 
altered and made conformable to the usage of the Church 
of England. 
The lands of ecclesiastical corporations are to this day 
said to be held by the tenure of frank almoigne or free 
alms, though the explanation which originally supported 
the fiction of a tenure has disappeared since the Reforma- 
tion. F. Pollock, Land Laws, p. 34. 
The essence of the donation in Frankalmoitrne was that 
it was a gift to God in free and perpetual alms, and there- 
fore it could never he held or enjoyed by any but a " re- 
ligious corporation." In other words, no gift in Frank- 
almoigne could be bestowed upon a parish or a layman. 
N. and Q., 6th ser., XII. 519. 
frank-bank (frangk'bangk), . Same AS free- 
bench. 
frank-chase (frangk'chas), n. In Eng. law, a 
right of liberty of free chase, whereby persons 
having lands within its limits are prohibited 
from cutting down any wood, etc., even in their 
own demesnes, to the prejudice of the right. 
Also called free-chase. 
The forest is the most noble of all, for it is a franchise 
of so princely a tenure that, according to our laws, none 
but the King can have a forest ; if he chance to pass one 
over to a subject, it is no more forest, butfranck-chace. 
Howell, Letters, iv. 16. 
Frankenia (frang-ke'ni-a), . [After Johann 
Franke (John FrankeniuS) (1590-1661), profes- 
sor of medicine at Upsala.] Agenus of low and 
heath-like perennial herbs or undershrubs, also 
constituting the natural order Frankeniacea;, 
and nearly allied to the Caryophyllacetf. There 
are about 20 species, widely distributed, but mostly found 
near the sea or in saline localities. The sea-heath, F. 
lasm*, is common in Europe, and 3 species are found in 
western North America. 
Frankeniacese (frang-ke-ni-a'se-e), n. pi. A 
natural order of shrubs, represented by the 
genus Frankenia. 
franker (frang'ker), n. One exercising the priv- 
ilege of franking mail-matter. See/ran^, v. 
frank-fee (frangk'fe), . [< frank* +fee*.'] In 
Eng. law : (a) A holding of lands in fee simple ; 
freehold. (6) Freehold lands exempted from 
all services, but not from homage. 
frank-ferm (frangk'ferm), n. [< frank* + ferm, 
farm: see /arm 1 .] In Eng. law, lands or tene- 
onarch full little did wot 
That she smiled, in his absence, on brave Lancelot. 
Scoff, Bridal of Trlermain, i. 11. 
frank-hsartedness ( frangk 'har* ted -nes), . 
The state or quality of having a frank or candid 
disposition. Craig. 
Frankify (fraug'ki-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. Frank- 
ified, ppr. J-'rttiil.-ifi/iiiii. [< Frank 1 , 1, + -i-fy.~\ 
To give a Frankish or French appearance or 
seeming to; Frenchify. [Bare.] 
As for Frankifying their own names, the Greeks do it 
worse than we do. Lord Stranyford, Letters, p. 150. 
frankincense (frangk'in-sens). n. [Formerly 
&\&ofrankincence; C ME. frankincens, franken- 
sence, franc encens, < OF. franc enccns, < ML. 
francum incensum, lit. pure incense, ' pure ' be- 
ing one of the senses of ML. francvs and OF. 
franc: see frank? and incense.'] 1. An aro- 
matic gum resin yielded by trees of the genus 
Rosicellia, much used from ancient times, es- 
pecially for burning as incense in religious 
observances. See olibanum. Also called yum 
thus. 
Whan the! wil schryven hem, thei taken fyre, and sette 
it besyde hem and casteu therin poudre of franc enctns. 
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 120. 
The priest shall burn . . . all the frankincense thereof : 
it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Lev. ii. 16. 
The tree which beareth frankincence hath a trunk 
or body writhen about, and putteth forth boughs and 
branches, like for all the world to the maple of Pontns. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xll. 14. 
Hence 2. Some other resin resembling oli- 
banum in any way. The common frankincense of 
druggists is the concrete turpentine which collects upon 
the trunks of the pines in the turpentine-lands of the south- 
ern United States. It is a semi-opaque pale-yellow resin, 
and is used in the composition of plasters. A similar resin 
from the Pinus Tceda of Europe was formerly used in the 
churches as a substitute for olibanum. 
Frankish (frang ' kish), a. [< ME. Monkish, 
Frenkisch; cf. AS. Frencisc (> E. French: see 
French) = OHG. Prenkisc, MHG. Vrenkigch. G. 
Frankisch (ML. Franciscus); as Frank* + -icIU.] 
1 . Belating or pertaining to the Franks. 
Their [the Karlings'] dominion marked the predomi- 
nance of the eastern part of the Frankish realm. 
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 5. 
2. Of or pertaining to Europeans: said with 
reference to the Oriental use of Frank 1 . 
franklandite (frangk'lan-dit), n. [After the 
English chemist Frankldnd.] A hydrous borate 
of calcium and sodium, allied to ulexite, found 
in Peru. 
frank-law (frangk'la), . [< /rant 2 + law.] 
Free or common law, or the rights a person en- 
joys under it. 
franklin (frangk'lin), n. [< ME.frankleii,frank- 
eleyn, francoleyn, < OF. *frankeley>i,francheleyn, 
ML. franchilanus, accom. of a theoretical G. 
*f rankling (cf. frankling), < ML. francvs, frank, 
free (see frank*, a.), + -ling. The same termi- 
nation, similarly changed, appears in chamber- 
lin, chamberlain, a. v. Hence the proper name 
Franklin."] If. A freeman. 
First he [Joseph) was here als our thain, 
Bot HOW es he for aifrankelain. 
Cursor llundi, 1. 5378. 
2. Formerly, in England, a freeholder; a yeo- 
man; originally, a person distinguished from 
the common freeholder by the extent of his pos- 
sessions, and by his eligibility to the dignities 
of sheriff, knight of the shire, etc. ; in later 
times, a small landholder. 
Ful wel biloved and famulier was he [a friarj 
\\H\\franktltyns over al in his cuntre. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 216. 
Provide me presently 
A riding suit, no costlier than would fit 
\ franklin's housewife. Shak., Cymbeline, iil. 2. 
In everything that relates to science, I am a whole En- 
cyclopaedia behind the rest of the world. I should have 
scarcely cut a figure among the franklins, or country gen- 
tlemen, in King John's days. Lamb, Elia, p. 87. 
franklingt, n. See franklin. 
Franklinft, libertus, municeps. Levins, Manip. Vocab. 
Franklinian (frangk-lin'i-an), a. [< Franklin 
(see del) + -in.] Of or pertaining to Benja- 
min Franklin (1706-90): as, the Franklinian ex- 
periments in electricity. 
