freeman
nouncommon in dialogue
- //ˈfɹiː.mən//
- //ˈfɹiːˌmæn//
A free person A person who has received an honorary freedom of a city.
noun
- 1
historicalA free person A person who is not a serf or slave.
- 2
historicalA free person A burgher with full freedom of a city, as opposed to nobles, outsiders, bondsmen, and others.
- 3
A free person A person who has received an honorary freedom of a city.
- 4
A free person A person who is a citizen of a free country, as opposed to a subject of a tyranny or totalitarian dictatorship.
There breathes no being but has some pretence / To that fine instinct called poetic sense; […] / The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand / The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.
- 5
historicalA free person A person who immigrated to Australia freely, as opposed to those transported as convicts, or such a transported convict who has regained his freedom.
- 6
historicalA free person An independent furtaker.
Etymology
From Old English frēomann, equivalent to free + -man and paralleled by similar constructions in other Germanic languages. Doublet of preman.
Forms
- plural
- freemen
freeman · A free person A person who has received an honorary freedom of a city.
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