| 释义 |
▪ I. liberty, n.1|ˈlɪbətɪ|
Also 4–6 lib-, lyberte(e, 5–7 -tie, -tye, 6 libartye.
[a. F. liberté (14th c. in Littré) = Pr. libertat, It. libertà, Sp. libertad, Pg. liberdade, ad. L. lībertāt-em, f. līber free.]
1. a. Exemption or release from captivity, bondage, or slavery.
c1386Chaucer Manciple's T. 70 His libertee this brid desireth ay. c1425Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1272 By duresse & constreynt to put thys creature Cleerly from hys liberte. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. xlix, The caytif beggar hath meate & libertie. 1535Coverdale Ps. xvii[i]. 19 He brought me forth..in to lyberte. 1611Bible Isa. lxi. 1 To proclaime libertie to the captiues. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 71 Moses and Aaron were to assure Pharaoh that God sent them, and they were in his Name to demand liberty for the Children of Israel. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vii. 42 She gazed..on the sullen, surging waters that lay between her and liberty.
b. In religious use: Freedom from the bondage of sin, or of the law.
1382Wyclif 2 Cor. iii. 17 Forsoth where is the spirit of God, there is liberte. c1410Hoccleve Mother of God 76 Þat vn-to libertee Fro thraidam han vs qwit. 1526Tindale Jas. i. 25 Whosoever loketh in the parfait lawe off libertie, and continueth there in. 1543Becon Nosegay K vj b, This spiritual liberte maketh vs not free from our obedience & dutye towarde the temporal power. 1604Hieron Wks. I. 482 This libertie, which Christians haue, is a spirituall libertie, a heauenly liberty, a liberty of the soule..which setteth the soule at liberty from destruction. 1823Simeon in Memoirs (1847) 587 The boundaries of Christian liberty and Christian duty.
2. a. Exemption or freedom from arbitrary, despotic, or autocratic rule or control. cap of liberty: see cap n.1 4 f.
1484Caxton Fables of æsop ii. i, Fredome and lyberte is better than ony gold or syluer. 1565Cooper Thesaurus, s.v. Libertas, To defende the libertie of the common weale. 1649Culpepper Phys. Direct. A, The Prize which We now..play for is The Liberty of the Subject. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. i. (1661) 4 They..vindicate that liberty left them as an inheritance by their Ancestours, from the incroachments..of the Court of Rome. 1690Locke Govt. ii. iv. §22 Wks. 1727 II. 165 The Liberty of Man, in Society, is to be under no other Legislative Power, but that established by Consent in the Commonwealth. 1759Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 429 Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. 1789Burke Corr. (1844) III. 105 You hope, sir, that I think the French deserving of liberty. I certainly do. 1816J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) p. xxxiv, Liberty is the chief distinction of England from other European countries. 1845Mill Ess. II. 244 The modern spirit of liberty is the love of individual independence. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxvii. 493 Be careful not to suffer liberty to degenerate into license, or anarchy to take the place of order. 1874Green Short Hist. viii. §5. 500 Eliot died, the first martyr of English liberty, in the Tower.
b. natural liberty: the state in which every one is free to act as he thinks fit, subject only to the laws of nature. civil liberty: natural liberty so far restricted by established law as is expedient or necessary for the good of the community. liberty of conscience: the system of things in which a member of a state is permitted to follow without interference the dictates of his conscience in the profession of any religious creed or the exercise of any mode of worship. liberty of the press: the recognition by the state of the right of any one to print and publish whatever he pleases without previous governmental permission.
The liberty of the press is not understood to imply absence of liability to judicial punishment for the publication of libellous or criminal matter, nor to be inconsistent with the right of the courts to prohibit a particular publication as involving a wrong to some person.
a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 364 To suffer euerie man to leaf at libertie of conscience. 1580J. Hay in Cath. Tract. (1901) 61 Quhy in the beginning of your new Euangell preached ye libertie of conscience. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 250 That he woulde suffer them to enjoy the libertie of their conscience. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 31 When complaints are freely heard, deeply consider'd, and speedily reform'd, then is the utmost bound of civill liberty attain'd, that wise men looke for. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxi. 108 Naturall liberty, which only is properly called liberty. 1678Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. i. §98. 4687 In the treaty of Passaw was granted Liberty of Conscience to the Professors of the Augustane Confession. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. 151 The liberty of the press is..essential to the nature of a free state. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 2 June, Let. ii, As for the liberty of the press,..it must be restrained. 1832Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 281 Political or civil liberty is the liberty from legal obligation which is left or granted by a sovereign government to any of its subjects. 1858[see conscience 4].
3. a. The condition of being able to act in any desired way without hindrance or restraint; faculty or power to do as one likes.
c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 285 It lay not in his libertee No-wher to gon. c1386― Clerk's T. 89, I me reioysed of my libertee, That selde tyme is founde in mariage. 1390Gower Conf. III. 180 He kepte his liberte To do justice and equite. 1530Palsgr. 298 Suche as writeth in ryme use in this thyng their lyberte. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 7 A man is Master of his libertie. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxi. §8. 118 The Idea of Liberty is the Idea of a Power in any Agent to do or forbear any particular Action. 1781Cowper Truth 195 Thought, word, and deed, his liberty evince, His freedom is the freedom of a prince. 1831E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son I. 45 I've liberty now—not under the pennant—do as I like. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps vii. §1. 184 If there be any one principle..more sternly than another imprinted on every atom of the visible creation, that principle is not Liberty but Law. 1872De Morgan Budget Paradoxes 464 We have a glorious liberty in England of owning neither dictionary, grammar nor spelling-book. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life x. vii. (1876) 372 The liberty of the wild bee.
b. Philos. The condition of being free from the control of fate or necessity; = freedom 5.
(Now chiefly in expressed antithesis to necessity; the phrase liberty of the will occurs, but freedom is more common in this connexion.)
1538Starkey England i. ii. 30 Many men vtturly take away the lyberty of wyl. 1654Hobbes (title) Of Libertie and Necessitie. 1687Miege Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, Liberty of Will, franc Arbitre. 1814Cary Dante, Par. v. 21 Supreme of gifts which God..gave Of his free bounty..Was liberty of will. 1868Bain Ment. & Mor. Sci. iv. xi. (chapter-heading), Liberty and Necessity. Ibid. 400 These terms are supposed to involve..the Liberty of the Will.
4. a. Free opportunity, range, or scope to do or † of doing something; hence, leave, permission.
14..Epyphanye in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 112 For they in hart rejoysed not a lyte On hym to loke that they have lybarte. c1430Lydg. Reason & Sens. (E.E.T.S.) 131 A lady callyd Curtesy, whiche graunted him lyberte to goo wher him lyst. 1463Bury Wills (Camden) 22, I will she haue hire liberte at alle leffull tymes to go in to the chapell. 1526Tindale Acts xxvii. 3 Iulius..gave him liberte to goo vnto his frendes. 1530Palsgr. 239/1 Lybertie leave, faculté, liberté. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 53 Youthfull men, Who giue their eies the liberty of gazing. 1604― Oth. ii. ii. 10 There is full libertie of Feasting from this present houre. 1642Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. (1896) 26 There is no liberty for causes to operate in a loose and stragling way. 1671Milton P.R. i. 365, I enjoy Large liberty to round this Globe of Earth. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xvi. viii, You have my full liberty to publish them. 1796Bp. Watson Apol. Bible (ed. 2) 190 You have the liberty of doing so. 1833H. Martineau Briery Creek i. 4 Bid him come in and wait for liberty to talk. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge iii, Have they no liberty, no will, no right to speak?
b. Unrestricted use of, or access to, permission to go anywhere within the limits of: chiefly in phr. to have the liberty of. (Cf. freedom 13 b.) ? Obs.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 156 He hath euermore had the liberty of the prison. 1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 22 He desyres not to be at libertye, but to have the libertye of the house. 1630Wadsworth Pilgr. viii. 90, I was freed from the Cage..and had the liberty of the dungeon. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. viii. (1840) 133, I might be more happy in this Solitary Condition, than I should have been in a Liberty of Society. 1724― Mem. Cavalier (1840) 270 They allowed him the liberty of the town. 1796Jane Austen Pride & Prej. iv. (1813) 12 He was now provided with a good house and the liberty of a manor.
c. Naut. Leave of absence. (Cf. liberty man in 10.)
1758J. Blake Plan Mar. Syst. 12 They shall be allowed to complete the remainder of the aforesaid time of liberty. Ibid. 13 The seaman ashore on liberty. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Breaking liberty, not returning at the appointed time.
5. a. Unrestrained action, conduct, or expression; freedom of behaviour or speech, beyond what is granted or recognized as proper; licence. (Occas. personified.) Now only in particularized sense: An instance of freedom, an overstepping or setting aside of rules; a licence.
1558Knox First Blast (Arb.) 7 John the Baptist, whom Herode..had beheaded for the libertie of his tonge. 1562Fills Stat. Geneva Ep. Ded. *iv b, They charge vs..with libertie and licenciousnesse. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 102 Nimble Iuglers..Disguised Cheaters, prating Mountebankes; And manie such like liberties of sinne. 1603― Meas. for M. i. iii. 29 Libertie plucks Iustice by the nose. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III) 124 These liberties are not sufferable in the freest conversations, they draw on other more dangerous liberties. 1670Cotton Espernon i. iv. 146 A Captain that very well understood..the pest of great Bodies to be sloath and liberty, which debauch Souldiers from their Duty. 1704Swift T. Tub Postscr., Wks. 1760 I. p. xvii, Using no other liberties, besides that of expunging certain passages. 1709Felton Classics (1718) 18 The Poem [æneid] is still more Wonderful, since without the Liberty of the Grecian Poets, the Diction is so Great and Noble, so Clear..that [etc.]. 1727Gay Begg. Op. i. vii, If I allow captain Macheath some trifling liberties. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 119 Those who may venture on liberties with the men of fargone times which to the historian are forbidden. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. Introd. 11 Thucydides has rarely..allowed himself liberties not to be found somewhere in other writers.
b. Phr. to take the liberty to do or of doing something: to go so far beyond the bounds of civility or propriety, be so presumptuous as to (etc.). to take liberties (or a liberty): to be unduly or improperly familiar (with a person; sometimes euphemistic); to use freedom in dealing with (rules, facts, etc.).
1625Bacon Ess., Friendship (Arb.) 169 Mæcenas took the liberty to tell him that [etc.]. 1704N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnassus II. 127 Catullus..took the Liberty to call the Nobleman Bastard. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. x. (1840) 220 The poor man had taken liberty with a wench. 1739Wks. of Learned I. 83 note, Mr. Dryden..takes great Liberties with the Authors he translates. 1749Power Pros. Numbers 71 The first Foot of the first Line..is defective by two short Syllables; which is a Liberty seldom taken. 1749J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure I. 219, I had seen him taking the last liberties with my servant-wench. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 101, I will..take the liberty to give them..my opinion. 1824Mrs. Sherwood Waste Not ii. 9 Mayhap you have made a stolen march, and taken what they call thieves' liberty. 1862Borrow Wild Wales I. xii. 124 The creature [sc. a cat] soon began to take liberties, and in less than a week after my arrival at the cottage, generally mounted on my back, when it saw me reading or writing. 1883Gilmour Mongols xxiii. 286 He thought I was taking some undue liberty with his dignity. 1924A. A. Milne When we were very Young 57 Excuse me, Your Majesty, For taking of The liberty, But marmalade is tasty, if It's very Thickly Spread. 1967Listener 23 Feb. 271/1 A scene in which he is wrongfully accused of ‘taking a liberty’ with one of the female guests.
6. As a feminine personification; with reference to the preceding senses, esp. sense 2.
1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 175 Will, Wantonness, Renoun, and Libertee. 1632Milton L'Allegro 36 The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) 87 (Hotel at Paris) Liberty..no tint of words can spot thy snowy mantle. 1798Coleridge France: An Ode 89 O Liberty! with profitless endeavour Have I pursued thee. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 92 Liberty never wore a more unamiable countenance than among these burghers, who abused the strength she gave them.
7. Law.
a. A privilege or exceptional right granted to a subject by the sovereign power; = franchise n. 2 b.
[1166–7Pipe Roll 13 Hen. II (1889) 107 Burgenses de Bedeford' reddunt Computum de. xl. marcis pro Carta Regis habenda, ut sint in libertate Burgensium de Oxineforde.] 1404Rolls of Parlt. III. 549 Als ferre as he may by the lawe of his land, or by his prerogatif, or libertee. 1414Ibid. IV. 22 So as hit hath ever be thair liberte & fredom, that thar sholde no Statut no Lawe be made oflasse than they yaf therto their assent. 1557[see franchise n. 2 b]. 1612Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1787) 106 Then had the Lord of Meath the same royal liberty in that territory. a1626Bacon Uses Com. Law (1635) 8 Many men of good quality have attained by charter..within mannors of their owne liberty of keeping law-dayes. 1647Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. 13 A grant of liberty from Queene Mary to Henry Ratcliffe. 1710Prideaux Orig. Tithes iv. 195 Grant to be held by inheritance and with perpetual liberty. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. iii. 31. 1848 Wharton Law Lex. s.v., A liberty to hold pleas in a court of one's own.
b. pl. († rarely collect. sing.) Privileges, immunities, or rights enjoyed by prescription or by grant.
[1180Mag. Rot. 26 Hen. II, Rot. 56 in Madox Hist. Exchequer (1711) 273 Homines de Preston reddunt computum de C marcis, Pro habenda Carta Regis, ut habeant Libertates quas Homines de Novo Castro habent.] c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 162 Þe lawis & þe libertes of holy chirche. 1467in Eng. Gilds (1870) 392 That he be disfraunchised of his libertees. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1491/2, I thought meet to passe ouer the antiquitie of..Douer, with the liberties thereof. 1602W. Fulbecke Pandectes 55 The Heluetians did bestow the liberties of their citie vpon Lewis the eleuenth. 1607Shakes. Cor. ii. iii. 223 They haue chose a Consull, that will from them take Their Liberties. 1669Marvell Corr. cxxix. Wks. 1872–5 II. 294 After long debate what to do with the Lords in point of our Libertys now. 1855Prescott Philip II, i. v. (1857) 76 The liberties of the commons were crushed at the fatal battle of Villalar.
c. † Hence occas. a person's domain or property. The district over which a person's or corporation's privilege extends. Also (in England before 1850), a district within the limits of a county, but exempt from the jurisdiction of the sheriff, and having a separate commission of the peace. (See also quot. 1876.)
liberty or liberties of a city: the district, extending beyond the bounds of the city, which is subject to the control of the municipal authority. liberties of a prison (esp. the Fleet and the Marshalsea in London): the limits outside the prison, within which prisoners were sometimes permitted to reside.
1455Rolls of Parlt. V. 325/2 Within ye said Citee, and Libertee of the same. 1510in Vicary's Anat. (1888) 210 Commaundement gyven to the Surgeons of this Citie, that they..dwell within the libertie of this Citie. 1535Coverdale 1 Macc. x. 43 Who so euer they be that fle vnto the temple at Ierusalem or within the liberties thereof [Vulg. in omnibus finibus ejus]. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 623/1 To distrayne the goodes of any Irish, being found within theyr libertye, or but passing through theyr townes. 1659Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 199 Within and without the Walls of the City of London, and in the Liberties and Nine out Parishes. 1724Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 128, I will begin the experiment in the liberty of St. Patrick's. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Warwicksh., This county..is divided into four hundreds and one liberty. 1787Generous Attachment I. 144 The worthy knight demanded..what she meant by strolling into his liberty at that hour of the night. 1792N. Chipman Rep. (1871) 11 Bond conditioned that J. a prisoner should not depart the liberties of said prison. 1848Dickens Dombey iv, The offices of Dombey and Son were within the liberties of the City of London, and within hearing of Bow-Bells. 1876Digby Real Prop. i. ii. §3. 52 When a large district comprising several manors was held by a single lord in whom was vested by grant or long usage the complete jurisdiction of the hundred, the district was called a liberty or honour.
8. liberty of the tongue (see quot.). So F. liberté.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Liberty of the tongue, in the manege, is a void space left in the middle of a bit, to give place to the tongue of a horse, made by the bit's arching in the middle, and rising towards the roof of the mouth... In forging the bit, care must be taken not to make the liberty too high, or at least tickle the palate.
9. Governed by at, forming advb. or predicative phrase.
†a. at one's liberty (later at liberty): at one's own choice, as one pleases, ‘ad libitum’.
1426Card. Beaufort in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 102 Att his owen fredam and libertee..for to mowe passe the See in parfourmyng of the said avowe. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 8386 Thow shalt no thyng do..But at thyn owne lyberte. 1480Bury Wills (Camden) 63 Wherof my seyd chauntry priest to be one of them at his liberte. 1524Hen. VIII in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 220 To..were his bonet on his hed..aswel in our presence as elleswhere, at his libertie. 1627C. Lever Q. Eliz. Teares xlv. (Grosart) 80 Painefull to get, but lost at libertie.
†b. at (a person's) liberty: in his power or at his disposal. Obs.
c1477Caxton Jason 111 b, Yf I nowe had her at my liberte I sholde make her to deye a cruell deth. 1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 27 §77 The shireffe..maie awarde a Capias ad satisfaciendum..or elles a Fieri fac. at libertie of the partie pursuant. 1547Homilies i. Falling fr. God ii. (1859) 86 They take this for a great benefit of God, to have all at their own liberty. 1642tr. Perkins' Prof. Bk. v. §319. 141 It is at the Libertie of the wife to have dower. 1698Norris Pract. Disc. IV. 303 'Tis at their Liberty whether they will do any Works of Mercy..or not.
c. at liberty (in early use † at one's or one's own liberty, at all, good, liberty): not in captivity or confinement; esp. in phr. to set at liberty, to liberate, free. Also, free to act, move, think, etc.; const. to with inf., occas. with clause.
c1430Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 661 Ye may togider speke What so ye liste, at good libertee. 1470–85Malory Arthur vi. iii, Were I at my lyberte as I was. 1485Caxton Pref. to Malory's Arthur 3 But for to..byleue that al is trewe that is conteyned herin, ye be at your lyberte. 1489― Faytes of A. iii. viii. 184 A man is not atte hys owne lyberte that byndeth hym self to another. 1526Tindale Luke iv. 18 Frely to sett att liberte them that are brused. 1585C. Fetherstone Calvin on Acts i. 5 The Lord openeth the prison for them that they may be at libertie to fulfil their function. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 133 More pitty, that the Eagles should be mew'd, Whiles Kites and Buzzards play at liberty. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 11 They..had rather haue their iudgements at libertie in differences of readings, then to be captiuated to one. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables, Life æsop (1708) 2 The Reader is at Liberty what to Believe and what Not. 1709Steele Tatler No. 109 ⁋1 Some particular Matters, which I am not at Liberty to report. 1758Reid tr. Macquer's Chem. I. 253 Its Acid being set at liberty. 1857Trollope Three Clerks xlv, ‘If you knew it was coming..why didn't you tell a chap?’ ‘I was not at liberty’, said Mr. Snape, looking very wise. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 26 He is quite at liberty to think so. 1882Alexander in Watson Life Candlish xv. 174 His right arm was at liberty. 1886‘Hugh Conway’ Living or Dead viii, You are at perfect liberty to repeat my words to him.
d. at liberty: (of persons or things) unoccupied, disengaged.
1847C. Brontë J. Eyre v. I. 75, I dressed as well as I could for shivering, and washed when there was a basin at liberty. 1853Mrs. Gaskell Cranford i. 4, I have no doubt they will call: so be at liberty after twelve. 1931Amer. Mercury Nov. 351/1 At liberty, out of work. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage v. 70 It takes many years before the superseded actors and actresses will admit to themselves that the professional terms ‘at liberty’ and ‘disengaged’ are no longer applicable to them in a temporary sense.
10. attrib. and Comb., as liberty-monger; liberty-loving, liberty-taking adjs.; liberty act, a circus act performed by liberty horses; liberty boat Naut., a boat carrying liberty men; liberty bodice, a close-fitting under-bodice; liberty bond, one of the interest-bearing bonds of the ‘Liberty’ loans issued by the U.S. government in 1917–18; liberty boy, (a) Anglo-Irish (see quot. 1765 and cf. liberty-corps); (b) transf. or allusive, a noisy zealot for liberty; (c) U.S. a supporter of a freedom movement; (d) (see quot. 1826); (e) (see quot. 1842); liberty cabbage U.S., sauerkraut; liberty cap = cap of liberty (see cap n.1 4 f); liberty corps (see quot.); liberty-day Naut., a day on which part of a ship's crew are allowed to go ashore; liberty hall (see hall n.1 11); liberty horse (see quot. 1946); liberty-liquor, ‘spirits formerly allowed to be purchased when seamen had visitors; now forbidden’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867); Liberty-loan, one of the four issues of liberty bonds; liberty man Naut., a sailor having leave to go ashore; liberty-party U.S. Hist., a political party which made the abolition of slavery its leading principle; liberty-pole, a tall mast or staff with a Phrygian cap or other symbol of liberty on the top; † liberty post, a post marking the boundary of the Liberties of the City of London; liberty (or Liberty) ship, a type of merchant vessel built in the United States by rapid mass-production methods during the 1939–45 war; also ellipt. Liberty; liberty-ticket Naut., ‘a document specifying the date and extent of the leave granted to a seaman or marine proceeding on his private affairs’ (Smyth); liberty tree = tree of liberty; † liberty-wife, a mistress.
1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xvii. 214 The training of a team of spirited thoroughbreds for the ‘*Liberty’ or ‘Haute École’ acts.
1837United Service Jrnl. Aug. 474 They knew..that the *liberty-boat would be on shore for them at that hour. 1901Daily Chron. 16 Nov. 4/3 The destroyer..ran down a liberty boat..with the loss of three lives. 1956A. Thorne Baby & Battleship i. 33 They..had no intention of coming back until it was nearly time to catch the Liberty Boat.
1916Child May 433/1 The ‘Liberty Bodice’ Factory, of Market Harborough, have made a speciality of the ‘*Liberty Bodice’... The bodice is made of durable but soft and elastic material, and is porous and pliable and arranged with well-placed straps carried over the shoulders to take the weight of underclothes and stand the pull of suspenders. 1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xiv. 193 Give me my liberty bodice. 1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 70 Liberty bodice, bodice to the waist,..worn by girls. The bodice has built-up shoulders and buttons at front or back. It..has gone out of fashion for all but very young children. 1973Radio Times 18 Jan. 18/1 (Advt.), The wiser you are, the more you appreciate the comfort of a liberty bodice.
1918in Webster Add., *Liberty bond. 1919E. E. Cummings Let. 25 Nov. (1969) 64 Very nice of you all to include me in the liberty bond donation. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 760/2 The Liberty Bonds and Victory Notes were issued under authority of the Acts of Congress approved April 24 1917, Sept. 24 1917, [etc.]. 1928Liberty bond [see drive n. 1 g].
1760Foote Minor Introd., Wks. 1799 I. 229 A Dublin mechanic..heading the *liberty-boys in a skirmish on Ormond Quay. 1765Ann. Reg. 120 Several soldiers and the liberty boys (that is, journeymen weavers living in the earl of Meath's liberties adjoining to the city) broke open Newgate. 1774in C. F. Aspinall-Oglander Admiral's Widow (1942) 51 They are distinguished here by the name of Tories, as the Liberty Boys—the tarring feathery gentry—are by the title of Whigs. 1781S. Peters Gen. Hist. Connecticut 393 The liberty boys were..honoured with the presence of ministers, deacons [etc.]. 1788V. Knox Winter Even. I. ii. xvii. 223 A Greek political ballad, which used to be sung by the Athenian liberty-boys. 1826New Monthly Mag. ii. 79 While the paying spectator..applauded, when his feelings prompted, the liberty boy [sc. free-ticket holder].., if he clapped at all, would clap with gloved hands. 1827Blackw. Mag. XXII. 593 Enacting the part of liberty-boys. 1842N.Z. Gaz. II. 112 People from ships called ‘liberty boys’ are only allowed to come on shore on Sundays for recreation. 1858Texas Almanac 1859 33 The Liberty boys..joined Austin's Company.
1927Haldeman-Julius Q. July–Sept. 7/2 Here we were..calling sauerkraut ‘*Liberty Cabbage’. 1967Listener 18 May 642/1 In America it was more than a restaurant owner's life was worth to keep sauerkraut on the menu: it was changed to liberty cabbage.
1803Lit. Mag. (Philadelphia) Dec. 172 A liberty pole..decorated with party coloured flags and *liberty caps. 1835Mechanics' Mag. 10 Jan. 256/2 It is wholly at variance with classic authority to place the Pileus or Liberty Cap on the head of the figure representing Liberty. 1843L. M. Child Lett. from N.Y. xl. 274 This age and country, in which liberty-caps abound.
1887Lecky Eng. in 18th C. VI. 360 The ‘*Liberty’ corps of the volunteers—so called because it was recruited in the Earl of Meath's liberties.
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xii. 27 Sunday..is the *liberty-day among merchantmen.
1930E. Smith Red Wagon xxvii. 225 The time came to exhibit his beloved *liberty horses, four dapple-grey cobs exactly resembling painted rocking-horses. 1946M. C. Self Horseman's Encycl. 264 Liberty horses are those which perform in the circus without a rider. 1952N. Streatfeild Aunt Clara 103 The comedy horse turn was coming to an end, the liberty horses would follow. 1972New Statesman 7 Jan. 14/2 Yasmin Smart is the only lady ring-master in the world... Since the age of 10 she has been learning to train Liberty horses.
1917Ade Let. 12 June (1973) 64 We find it hard work to induce the farmers and other small investors to take the *Liberty Loan bonds. 1921E. L. Bogart War Costs 208 The First Liberty Loan Act of April 24, 1917, authorized a bond issue of $2,000,000,000 and advances to allies of $3,000,000,000. 1922B. J. Hendrick Life & Lett. W. H. Page II. xxii. 273 The American Government finally paid this over-draft out of the proceeds of the first Liberty Loan.
1897Daily News 23 Jan. 7/2 The *liberty-loving elements of our town.
1758J. Blake Plan Mar. Syst. 18 Such *liberty-men..shall..forfeit all benefit from their liberty ticket. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 9 Pinnaces are the boats usually selected for..carrying working parties, liberty men, &c. 1909Daily Chron. 25 Feb. 1/6 The packet boats which convey the ‘liberty’ men to Chatham after the day's routine. 1964R. Braddon Year Angry Rabbit xii. 110 A few hundred liberty men on each side.., their flights delayed by bad weather, returned to the firing line too late.
1702De Foe Test. Ch. Eng. Loyalty in Somers Tracts 4th Collect. (1751) III. 14 Stubborn, refractory, *Liberty-Mongers. 1828Syd. Smith Mem. (1855) II. 290 Without making ourselves the liberty-mongers of all Europe.
1843Whittier What is Slavery? Prose Wks. 1889 III. 105 It is against this system..that the *Liberty Party is, for the present, directing all its efforts.
1775–83Thacher Mil. Jrnl. (1823) 22 *Liberty poles were erected in almost every town and villge..under which the tory is compelled to sign a recantation. 1789Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 70 The soldiers were then paraded in triumph to the Palais Royal, which is now the liberty pole of this city.
1644Nye Gunnery (1670) 50 The *liberty post standing amongst the desolate ruines of Fore-gate street.
1941Marine Digest 28 June 8/2 The emergency cargo ships, known as the EC-2 type, *Liberty ships, will have an overall length of about 425 feet, width 57 feet, approximately 10,000 deadweight tons, and will be oil-burning. 1942W. S. Churchill End of Beginning (1943) 183 The launching of the Patrick Henry, the first Liberty ship. 1945Seafarers Log 3/2 The first of the Liberties to be scrapped, the Banvard was delivered into service on April 8, 1943. 1961W. Vaughan-Thomas Anzio iv. 47 DUKWs were already chugging in from the big Liberty ships lying out to sea. 1966C. R. Tottle Sci. Engin. Materials vii. 170 Some of the wartime ‘liberty’ ships fractured when lying in port, without operational loads.
1836Going to Service xiii. 161 *Liberty-taking men-servants. 1758*Liberty ticket [see quot. for liberty man].
1776A. Adams in J. Adams' Fam. Lett. (1876) 180, I..ventured just as far as the stump of *Liberty Tree.
1825Sweet William & Yng. Colonel ii. in Child Ballads II. 291/1 I'll keep her for my *liberty-wife.
Hence † ˈlibertyless a., deprived of liberty.
1643T. Case Serm. in Kerr Covt. & Covenanters (1895) 248 Thy sword..has made many a faithful minister libertyless.
▪ II. ˈliberty, v. Obs. exc. dial.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. a. To endow with liberties or privileges. b. To give liberty to; dial. to allow to run loose.
c1425Found. St. Bartholomew's 16 The kynge..made this Chirche with all his pertynencys with the sam fredommys that his Crowne ys liberttid with or ony othir chirch yn all Inglonde that is most y-freid. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 360 He was lybertied to be at large in the Kynges courte. 1893Wiltsh. Gloss., Liberty, to allow anything to run loose. ‘It don't matter how much it's libertied’, the more freedom you give it the better. |