affranchise, v.
(əˈfrɑːntʃɪz, -æ-, -tʃaɪz)
5 afranchise, 5–6 affranchyse.
[f. Fr. afranchiss- lengthened stem of afranch-ir (now affranchir) f. à to + franchir to free; f. franc free: see frank.]
To free; to set at liberty from servitude; also from an obligation.
| 1475 Caxton Jason C b, I shall affranchyse yow of your vowe. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 110 He afranchised legmon, and made him fre that afore was bonde and thralle. 1600 Holland Livy xxxv. xxiii. 908 h, Antiochus should be sent for to affranchise Greece. 1725 Cotes tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. I. iii. i. 76 It cannot be said, that France..has been made Free, or affranchised, since she was free in her first original. 1863 Landor in Atl. Monthly (1866) June 702/2 Every slave, after fifteen years, should be affranchised. |