See Also: Liberty(medicine)
liberty(1)(dictionary)
Liberty(dictionary)
liberty(2)(dictionary)
liberty(dictionary)
LIBERTY(law)
Liberty Bell(tourism)
LIBERTY OF THE PRESS(law)
Liberty, Sons of(encyclopedia)
Liberty Party(encyclopedia)

liberty(1) (iou)



liberty noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French liberte from Latin libertat-, -tas, from liber free: see -TY1.]
Exemption or release from captivity, bondage, or slavery. LME.
Bible (AV): Isaiah 61:1 To proclaime libertie to the captiues.
b. Theology. Freedom from the bondage of sin, or of the law. LME.
Exemption or freedom from arbitrary, despotic, or autocratic rule or control. LME.
R. H. Tawney The theocracy of Massachusetts, merciless alike to religious liberty and to economic licence. Isaiah Berlin The liberty of some must depend on the restraint of others. personified: H. Hallam Liberty never wore a more unamiable countenance than among these burghers, who abused the strength she gave them.
The condition of being able to act in any desired way without restraint; power to do as one likes. LME.
A. De Morgan We have a glorious liberty in England of owning neither dictionary, grammar nor spelling-book.
b. Philosophy. The condition of being free from the control of fate or necessity. Now chiefly opp. necessity. M16.
Free opportunity, range, or scope to do (or of doing) something; gen. leave, permission. LME.
H. Martineau Bid him come in and wait for liberty to talk.
b. Unrestricted use of a thing; access to or permission to go anywhere within the limits of a place. Chiefly in have the liberty of. (Cf. FREEDOM 8b.) Now rare or obsolete. E17.
Defoe They allowed him the liberty of the town.
c. Nautical. Leave of absence. Cf. liberty man below. M18.
Law.
a. A privilege or exceptional right granted to a subject by the sovereign power. Cf. FRANCHISE noun 4b. LME.
b. In pl. Privileges, immunities, or rights enjoyed by prescription or by grant. LME.
W. H. Prescott The liberties of the commons were crushed at the fatal battle of Villalar.
c. Hist. A district having such privileges etc.; spec. (a) the district over which a corporation's privilege extended; (b) a district within the limits of a county, but exempt from the jurisdiction of the sheriff, and having a separate commission of the peace; (c) a district containing several manors held by a single lord; (d) sing. & in pl., a district controlled by a city though outside its boundary; (e) an area outside a prison where some prisoners were sometimes allowed to reside. LME.
Formerly, unrestrained action, conduct, or expression; freedom of behaviour or speech, beyond what is granted or recognized as proper; licence. Now only, an instance of this, an overstepping or setting aside of rules or conventions. M16.
J. Knox John the Baptist, whom Herode..had beheaded for the libertie of his tonge. B. Jowett Thucydides has rarely..allowed himself liberties not to be found somewhere in other writers.
Phrases: at liberty (a) not in captivity or confinement; esp. in set at liberty, liberate, set free; (b) free to do, move, think, etc.; (c) (of a person or thing) unoccupied, disengaged. at one's liberty (a) at one's own choice, as one pleases; (b) in one's power, at one's disposal. cap of liberty: see CAP noun1. civil liberty: see CIVIL adjective. liberty of CONSCIENCE. liberty of the press: see PRESS noun1. natural liberty the state in which everyone is free to act as he or she thinks fit, subject only to the laws of nature. take a liberty, take liberties be unduly or improperly familiar with a person (sometimes euphem.); use freedom in dealing with rules, facts, etc. take the liberty presume or venture to do, take the presumptuous step of doing. tree of liberty: see TREE noun.
Comb.: liberty act a circus act performed by liberty horses; liberty boat Nautical a boat carrying liberty men; Liberty bodice (proprietary name for) a girl's or woman's underbodice designed with reinforcing strips; liberty bond any of a series of interest-bearing war bonds issued by the US government in 1917-18; liberty boy a noisy zealot for liberty; US a supporter of a freedom movement; liberty cabbage US sauerkraut; liberty cap (a) = cap of liberty s.v. CAP noun1; (b) a common small European toadstool, Psilocybe semilanceata, which contains psilocybin; liberty day Nautical: on which part of a ship's crew are allowed to go ashore; liberty hall a place where one may do as one likes; liberty horse a horse that performs in a circus without a rider; Liberty loan any of the four issues of liberty bonds; liberty man Nautical a sailor having leave to go ashore; liberty-pole a tall mast or staff with a Phrygian cap or other symbol of liberty on the top; Liberty ship a type of merchant vessel built in the US by rapid mass-production methods during the war of 1939-45; liberty tree = tree of liberty s.v. TREE noun.