| 释义 |
† free cost Obs.
In phr. at, of, on, upon free cost = cost-free, gratis. (See also cost n.2 5 c.)
1563Homilies ii. Agst. Idleness (1859) 517 Eating other men's bread of free cost. 1627Bp. Hall Best Bargaine Wks. 516 An error of free-cost is better than an high-rated veritie. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. iii. §26 If he affirmeth it on free cost, we can confute it as cheap, by denying it. 1676Wycherley Pl. Dealer Ded., A man..had better pay for what he has at an inn than lie on free-cost at a gentleman's house. 1749G. Lavington Enthus. Methodists & Papists (1820) 172 The Methodists asking her to live upon free-cost. 1764Mem. G. Psalmanazar 134 Considering how well acquainted I was with the way of travelling at free-cost.
b. as adv. phr. without preposition.
1648Herrick Hesper., ‘Nothing free-cost’ (1869) 189 Nothing comes free-cost here. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. ix. 67 That the People might..see the Sports Free-cost.
c. attrib. or adj. Gratuitous.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 136 Such parasites and scrap-gatherers at free-cost feasts. |