free rangen.adj.
/ˌfriː ˈreɪn(d)ʒ/, U.S. /ˌfri ˈreɪndʒ/ Originally U.S.
A. n.
Originally: unfenced pasturage or grazing land; a tract of such land; = open range n. Later more generally: any (tract of) land on which livestock may roam freely.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [noun] > pasturing > types of pasturing
summering1477
foggage1669
free range1877
stockage1884
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > herding, pasturing, or confining > [noun] > action or occupation of pasturing > types of pasturing
foggage1471
summering1477
intercommoning1573
commonage1610
intercommonage1628
fore-eatagea1642
summering ground1664
retropannage1679
summering plain1688
pannage1772
free range1877
free ranging1882
stockage1884
shackage1885
mob stocking1953
1877 Fresno (Calif.) Republican 30 June Free range was scarce and in the end generally more expensive than rented range.
1884 Weekly Nevada State Jrnl. 9 Aug. The meat markets of the world have been supplied in a very large measure from the free ranges of the United States.
1912 C. E. Mulford & J. W. Clay Buck Peters, Ranchman xiv. 186 Outlying free range had been thoroughly combed.
1918 Hoard's Dairyman 21 June 936/3 When chicks have free range they can usually find bugs and insects,..but buttermilk or freshly soured skimmilk may be fed to advantage even when chicks are on free range.
1947 Steamboat (Colorado) Pilot 13 Feb. 8/4 Then sheep commenced to come for a share of the free range.
1960 Business Hist. Rev. 34 422 Most of the ranching ventures were based upon the availability of just such free ranges.
1998 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 24 Apr. 10 Shoppers can ask farmers..whether the chickens..were reared on free-ranges.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
Of a farm animal: kept or raised in conditions where it may move around freely. Later also: designating the meat or milk of such an animal. Of a chicken, turkey, etc.: opposed to battery n. 13c (attributive). Of an egg: produced by such a bird.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > herding, pasturing, or confining > [adjective] > unpenned
unpenned1596
unstalled1829
free range1885
free-ranged1924
1885 Topeka (Kansas) Daily Commonw. 17 June 2/2 Free range cattle are fed nothing the year round, and it is strange that us grangers cannot make it, in any country where this is the case.
1902 Winnipeg Tribune 11 July 7/3 Free range chickens get along very well on a feed morning and evening of grain of any kind ordinarily grown on the farm.
1912 Englewood (Chicago) Times 26 Apr. 1/1 (advt.) Hatching eggs from pure bred free range hens.
1936 Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 23 Nov. 8/3 (advt.) Full fed free range turkeys, various sized.
1959 Times 10 Nov. 8/3 Would it be practicable for free range eggs to be handled separately at packing stations and be sold by the board at a premium?
1965 Observer 18 Apr. 45/2 Health food shops, where everything is free range, unsprayed, naturally fertilized.
1973 Countryman 78 Winter 139 Dr Evans points out that drinking of 'free range' milk and, until recently, of much buttermilk, was characteristic of Welsh rural areas.
1983 Choice (Austral. Consumers' Assoc.) Nov. 4/2 In my garden..I keep a dozen bantams which are free range, although they are usually kept inside a large enclosed yard.
1984 A. Barr & P. Levy Official Foodie Handbk. i. 33/1 An over-cooked free-range chicken is very nearly as bad as an over-cooked battery chicken.
1988 Vegetarian Mar.–Apr. 25/3 Such a sad contrast to the glimpse of free-range pigs rooting around in green fields that was shown earlier.
1997 Food & Wine 28/3 Succulent Perthshire free-range pork with yellow split-pea pudding.
2005 Guardian (Nexis) 7 Sept. (Society section) 14 Could there be a future for ‘free range milk’? There are few signs of progress.
2007 Weekend Austral. (Nexis) 5 May 43 A herd of about 30 Brahmin cattle enjoy the nine separate paddocks and free-range chickens roam the orchard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1877