freeman
(ˈfriːmən)
[OE. fréoman: see free a. and man n.]
1. a. One who is personally free; one who is not a slave or serf. b. In later use often, one who is politically free; one not a subject of a tyrannical or usurped dominion.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 2175 (Gr.) Hwæt ᵹifest þu me..freomanna to frofre. c 1000 Laws of æthelred i. i. §1 Ðæt ælc freoman ᵹetreowne borh hæbbe. c 1205 Lay. 15577 Þu nahtes i nane stude habben freo-monnes ibude. c 1275 Fortune 3 in O.E. Misc. (1872) 86 Wyþ freomen þu art ferly feid. a 1300 Cursor M. 16022 All þai gedird o þe tun, bath freman and dring. 1382 Wyclif Eph. vi. 8 Whethir seruaunt, whether fre man. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 178/1 Fremann, made of bonde..manumissus. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 25 Had you rather Cæsar were liuing, and dye all Slaues; then that Cæsar were dead, to liue all Free⁓men? 1659 Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 459 No Free-man shall be imprisoned without due Process of the Law. 1784 Cowper Task v. 733 He is the freeman whom the Truth makes free And all are slaves beside. 1793 Burns Scots, wha hae iv, Free-man stand, or free-man fa'. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 98 A coloured free-man. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 222 Injustice, whether existing among slaves or freemen. |
2. One who possesses the freedom of a city, borough, company, etc.
| 1386 Rolls of Parlt. III. 225/1 The eleccion of Mairaltee is to be to the Fre men of the Citee. 1682 Enq. Elect. Sheriffs 34 The Rights..are not only granted to the Mayor, but to the Free-men and Barons. 1705 Addison Italy Wks. 1721 II. 42 Both having been made Free men on the same day. c 1744 Parl. Bill in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lxxi. 32 The oath to be taken by the freemen of the said company. 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 474 The son and heir of a freeman succeeds to his inheritance within the borough unencumbered by the debts of his father. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. ix. 730 The electors [of the Council] are citizens, burgesses, or freemen. |
3. In various modern uses. a. (See quot.)
| 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 194 A class of beaver-trappers and hunters technically called freemen..They are..Canadians..who have been employed..by some fur company, but their term being expired, continue to hunt and trap on their own account. |
b. Austral. A ‘free-labourer’, a non-union man.
| 1890 Times 8 Sept. 3/1 The ships are being loaded by freemen. |
4. Comb., as freeman-like adv.; † freeman's song, the name applied in 16th c. to a certain class of vocal compositions of a lively character.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 273 Children, whiche are more liberally and more freemanlike handled of theyr fathers. c 1575 J. Hooker Life of Carew 39 The King would very often use him to sing with him certain songs then called fremen songs, as namely ‘By the bank as I lay’. 1609 [T. Ravenscroft] Deuteromelia: or The Second part of Musicks melodie, or melodius Musicke. Of Pleasant Roundelaies; K.H. mirth, or Freemens Songs. And such delightfull Catches. 1611 Cotgr., Virelay, a..Round, freemans Song. |
Hence ˈfreemanship, the position or status of a freeman, with its rights and privileges.
| 1869 Daily News 31 Aug., The fees payable on taking up freemanship. 1873 McDowell Hist. Dumfries xxviii. 315 He had to serve other three years..before he could aspire to freemanship. |