freemasonry 
freemasonry (fre'ma'sn-ri), n. [< freemason + 
-ry.~\ 1. The principles, practices, and insti- 
tutions of freemasons. Hence 2. Secret or 
tacit brotherhood. 
There is nfrn'iiiitaiiirii extending through all branches 
of society in the quick comprehension of significant words. 
A. Jthotles, .Monsieur at Home, p. (Hi. 
freemason's-cup (fre'ma'snz-kup), n. A drink 
2370 
One [buildingl is very spacious and broad, and of a great 
liciulh. adorned with main' goodly pillars of whil< 
.-'"'. Ciirimt, Crudities. 1. ::o. 
The walls of the citty are of large square free-stone, the 
most neate and best in repaire I ever saw. 
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 30, 1644. 
2. A freestone peach : distinguished from cling- 
stone. See II. 
II. a. Having, as a fruit, a stone from which 
the flesh of the fruit separates readily and 
All Jree-swnnmers are especially heedful to avoid con- 
tact with the bottom. tiuodf, Menhaden, p. 67. 
free-swimming (fre'swim'ing), a. Swimming 
freely : said of any aquatic animal that is not 
fixed, and particularly of those which are at- 
To be free-minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of 
meat, and sleep, and of exercise, is one of the best pre- 
cepts of long lasting. 
Bacon, Regimen of Health (ed. 1887). 
freeness (fre'nes), n. The state or quality 
of being free, unconstrained, or unobstruct- 
tached at some period of their lives and free 
ed ; openness ; unreservedness ; frankness; in- at another: as, the free-swimming embryo of ^a 
genuousness; candor; liberality; gratuitous- 
ness. 
Freenesse of speech is when we speake boldly and with- 
out feare, euen to the proudest of them, whatsoeuer we 
please or haue list to speake. 
Sir T. Wilson, Art of Rhetoric, p. 203. 
He was a clear asserter of the sovereign/r)ie and in- 
fallible efficacy of divine grace in the conversion of souls. 
Bates, Funeral Sermon of Baxter. 
freer (fre'er), . One who frees or gives free- 
dom. J}. Jonsou. 
freeret, . A Middle English form of friar. 
Freesia (fre'si-ji), . [NL/.] A genus of iri- 
daceous bulbous plants of the Cape of Good 
Hope, allied to Gladiolus. There are two spe- 
cies, frequently cultivated. 
free-soil (fre'soil'), a. In favor of free soil or 
cirriped; the free-swimming adult of a crinoid. 
freet, freit (fret), re. [Also fret; < leel.frett, 
news, intelligence, inquiry, inquiry about the 
future; cf. Icel. fretta = D&n.fritte, question, 
interrogate ; ODan. frittere, an interrogator ; 
prob. ult. akin to E. /rain 1 , q. v.] 1. A super- 
stitious notion or belief with respect to any 
action or event as a good or a bad omen. 
Freits follow them 'at freits follow. Scotch proverb. 
Syne thai herd, that Makheth ay 
In t&ntovrn fretis had gret fay. 
Wyntown, vi. 18, 362. (Jamieson.) 
2. A superstitious observance or practice. 
All kinds of practiques, freits, or other extraordinary 
actions, which cannot abide the trew touch of natural 
reason. King Janus, Drcmonologic, p. 99. 
[Scotch in both senses.] 
freeze 
Tin- /,</>///"<</ preacher must > ithcr !i\v liy air or be 
foreed to change lti> pastui v. 
lip. II, ill, Castr.s of Conscience, iii. 7. 
free-trader (f re'tnl'der), H. One who advocates 
or believes in free trade. See free trade, under 
free, a. 
fireety, freity (fro'ti), . [Also written fretty; 
<fm-/,fn-it, + -yl.~\ Superstitious; of or be- 
longing to superstitions. [Scotch.] 
I knew the man whose mind was deeply imbued with 
the superstitions and freitty observances of liis nut in- 
land. Edinburgh Mag., Sept., 1816, p. 164. 
freewarren (fre'wor // en), n. In Eng. law, a 
royal franchise or exclusive right of killing 
beasts and fowls of warren within certain 
limits. 
freewill (fre'wil), n. and a. I. n. See freewill, 
under in'//. 
II. a. 1. Made, performed, or done freely or 
of one's own motion or accoM; voluntary. 
Churchmen in those Ages liv'd meerly upon free-ivill 
Offerings. Milton, Touching Hirelings. 
The basket of fruit of the juvenile Talfourd [did] not 
displease me: not that I have any thoughts of bartering 
or reciprocating these things. To send him anything in 
return would be to reflect suspicion of mercenariness upou 
what I know he meant & freewill offering. 
'. To Wordsworth. 
th^^XT^V 8 ', SP?, sed to . Sl , ave 7- A 1 eD| - free-tailed (fre'tald), a. ' Having the tail free 
from the interfemoral membrane to a consid- 
erable extent or entirely, as a bat ; emballo- 
nurine. 
;er (fre'thing''k^r), n. One who is 
in the formation of his beliefs by 
obedience to authority, but submits the claims 
of authority to reason as the ultimate arbiter. 
The early application of the term was to those who occu- 
pied a rationalistic position in regard to current religious 
beliefs and dogmas; hence it acquired the still current 
sense of skeptic, infidel, and even atheist. The word, 
though employed earlier, is generally supposed to have 
l>een brought into common use in 1713 by the publication of 
Anthony rolling's "A Discourse of Freethinking, occasion- 
ed by the Rise and Growth of a Sect called Freethinkers." 
Although this work defines free-thinkinff us the endeavor 
to judge a proposition according to the weight of evidence, 
and does not explicitly maintain any proposition which can 
offend a Protestant, it was rightly judged to be a covert 
attack upon fundamental tenets of the Christian religion. 
The free-thinkers specifically so called formed a class of 
deistical writers in England in the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth centuries, the chief of whom were 'Poland (died 
1722), Anthony Collins (1676-1729), Woolston (1669-1733) 
Tindal (.lied 1733), and Bolingbroke (1678-1751). See deist. 
The idiot is supposed to say in his heart what David's 
fool did some thousands of years ago, and was therefore 
designed as a proper representative of those among us 
who are called atheists and infidels by others, and free- 
thinkers by themselves. Addison, Religions in Waxwork. 
IB he a churchman ? then he's fond of power : 
A quaker ? sly : a presby terian ? sour : 
A smart free-thinker' all things in an hour. 
Pope, Moral Essays, i. 157. 
The freethinker perhaps too has imbibed his principles 
from the persons among whom he was bred up. 
A. Tucker, Light of Nature, V. viiL 
Who born within the last forty years has read a word 
of Collins and Toland and Tindal and that whole race 
who called themselves freethinkers! 
Burke, Rev. in France. 
If Collins included as. freethinkers all who differed from 
the prevalent creed of the time, Bentley would not deny 
th*t freethinkers had done good service. If, on the other 
hand, Collins meant, as Bentley assumed him to insinuate, 
principles of a party in 
. the extension of slavery 
into the Territories, or those parts of the country which had 
not yet been erected into states. The Free-soil party arose 
put of acoalition of the Liberty party with the Barnburners 
in 1848, and, with the addition of Whigs, Know-nothings, 
and some Democrats, became in 1854 the Republican party. 
It nominated candidates for the presidency in 1848 and 
The Liberty party was merged in the Free-soil, whose 
creed was the exclusion of slavery from the territories. 
G. S. JUerriam, S. Bowles, I. 62. 
Free-soiler (fre'soi'ler), . [< free-soil + -**!.] 
In U. A'. It int., a member of the Free-soil party; 
one who advocated the non-extension of sla- 
very. 
The shibboleth of this party [nominating Van Buren] 
was " Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men." 
It was, of course, anti-slavery, but its adherents took the 
name of " Free-sailers." X. Sargent, Public Men, II. 334. 
free-SOilism (fre'soi'lizm), . [< free-soil + 
-ism.'] The principles of the Free-soilers. 
During the anti-slavery agitation in Kansas, "Senator 
Atchison, formerly the presiding officer of the United 
States Senate, openly advised the people of Missouri to 
go and vote in Kansas. General Stringfellow told them 
to take their bowie-knives and exterminate every scoun- 
drel who was tainted with Fren-soilism or Abolitionism." 
J. F. Clarke, N. A. Rev., CXX. 73. 
free-spoken (fre'spo"kn), a. Given to free- 
dom of speech; accustomed to speak without 
hesitancy or reserve. 
The emperor [N'erva] fell into discourse of the injustice 
and tyranny of the former time, . . . and said, What 
should we do with them, if we had them now? One of 
them that were at supper, and was a free-spoken senator, 
said, Marry, they should sup with us. 
Bacon, Apophthegms. 
"Am I but false as Guinevere is pure? 
Or art thou mazed with dreams? or being one 
Of OUT free-spoken, Table hast not heard 
That Lancelot " there he check'd himself and paused. 
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre. 
t of inquiring freely into 
porch as well ai our ignorance of tl < ^ ac * or P* n ^ ^ * a *t n i n which authority requires 
temple was finished laterally, and the porch joined'' to the implicit belief : especially applied to skeptical 
main temple, prevents us from judging what the effect of inquiry into the supernatural elements of Chris- 
the front would have been if belonging to & free-standing tianity 
building. J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 121. . , -. _. ... .. 
Collins s Discourse on Freethinking discusses the rela- 
freestone (fre ston), n. and a. I. n. 1. Any t'on of reason to the acceptance and the interpretation of 
species of stone composed of sand or grit, as r e . v ?l** i ,. n : w i th .?J' ea , t A cutenes8 ? I )! la '. >nit J'' i.".? spirit not 
the brownstone or brown sandstone of the east- 
the brownstone or brown sandstone of the east- N Porter, App. toUeberwe"^!!^ Prdlos p S7< 
ern United States, much used in building: so *. 4.'. ... /_-/, at \ 
called because it is easily quarried. free-thinking (fre'thing'king), a. Holding th 
,, . .,, , principles of a free-thinker ; untrammeled o 
I saw her hand : she has a leathern hand, 
A /rwgloiie-colour'cl hand ; I verily did think 
That her old gloves were on ; but 'twas her hands. 
Shah., As you Like it, iv. 3. 
bold in speculation; hence, deistical; skeptical. 
free-tongued (fre'tungd), a. Given to speak- 
ing freely and without reserve. 
2. Of or pertaining to the metaphysical doc- 
trine of the freedom of the will : as, the free- 
will controversy. See will. 
I persist in saying, with Sir W. Hamilton, that on the 
free-trill doctrine volitions are emancipated from causa- 
tion altogether. J. S. Mill, Exam, of Hamilton, xxvi. 
Freewill Baptist. See Baptist. 
free-willed (fre'wild), a. Endowed with free- 
dom of the will. 
In vain we think that free-mll'd Man has Pow'r 
To hasten or protract th' appointed Hour. 
Prior, Ode to George Villiers. 
free-Wilier (fre'wLFer), . In Maryland, dur- 
ing the colonial period, an immigrant who had 
voluntarily sold his labor under contract for a 
certain number of years. 
freewoman (fre'wum"an), n. ; pi. freewomen 
(-wim'en). A woman not a slave. 
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other 
by afreewoman. Gal. iv. 22. 
free-writer (fre 'rioter), . A free-thinking 
writer. See free-thinker. Shaftesbury. [Rare.] 
freezable (fre'za-bl), a. [< freeze + -able.'] 
Capable of being frozen. 
freeze 1 (frez), r.; pret./rore, pp. frozen or froze, 
ppr. freezing. [Early mod. E. &\sofreese, friese; 
< ME. freesen, fresen, freosen (pret. fres, frese, 
and weak frccscde, pi. not found, pp. froren), 
< AS. fredsan (pret. *freds, pi. "fruron, pp. fro- 
ren) = D. vriezeii = MLG. rresen, LG. fresen = 
OHG. *friosan, freosan, friesen, MHG. vriesen, 
G. frieren = Icel. frjosa = Sw. frysa = Dan. 
fryse = Goth, "friusan (evidenced by deriv. 
frivs, frost, cold), freeze, = L. prurire (orig. 
"prusire, itch (orig. sting, as with cold), cf. 
pruina (orig. *prusina), hoar frost, priina (orig. 
"prusna), a burning coal, cf. Skt. / plush, burn, 
V prush, sprinkle, > prushvd, a drop, frozen 
drop, hoar frost. Hence frost, and frore, pp.] 
1. trans. 1. To congeal; harden into ice; 
change from a fluid to a solid form by cold or 
abstraction of heat. 
When icicles hang by the wall, 
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, 
And Tom bears logs into the hall, 
And milk conies frozen home in pail. 
Shak., [..[.. I... \. :>. (song). 
2. To affect with frost; stiffen, harden, injure, 
kill, etc., by congealing the fluid portions of ; 
hence, to produce some analogous effect in. 
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word 
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 6. 
Elfsin, . . . ascending bySimony to the Chairof Canter- 
bury, and going to Rome the same year for his Pall, was 
froz'n to Death in the Alps. Milton, Hist. Eng., v. 
As a knight of old, at the very moment when he would 
else have unhorsed his opponent, was often frozen into 
mi just inactivity by the king's arbitrary signal for parting 
the tilt ei -. De Quincey, Secret Societies, i. 
Her loveliness with shame and with surprise 
Froze my swift speech. Tennyson, Fair Women. 
3. To chill with cold; produce the sensation 
of intense cold in. To freeze In, to entangle or en- 
velop in ice : as, the vessels were frozen in earlier than 
usual. 
Six vessels \ayfrozen in at a considerable distance from 
the town. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 190. 
To freeze out, to drive out or off; compel to withdraw 
or retire, as a person from society by cold or contemptu- 
ous treatment, a man from business by severe competi- 
tion or opposition, or a body of stockholders by depress- 
ing the stock. [Colloq., V. S.] 
