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Irish Free State n. [after Irish Saorstát Éireann Saorstát Éireann n.] the independent state consisting of twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, established in 1922 under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, and officially renamed Ireland in 1937; cf. Twenty-six Counties n. at twenty adj. and n. Compounds 4.Established as a dominion of the British Commonwealth, with a Governor General representing the British monarch, the Irish Free State (Irish Saorstát Éireann) was intended to comprise the whole of Ireland. However, six counties in the province of Ulster immediately withdrew to remain part of the United Kingdom (see Six Counties n. at six adj. and n. Compounds 2). A new constitution in 1937 replaced the office of Governor General with one of president, and renamed the country Ireland (in English) or Éire (in Irish); in 1949 the country formally became a republic (Republic of Ireland; Irish Poblacht na hÉireann) and ceased to be part of the Commonwealth. The name Eire was common in British English for a period after 1937, but is now only in occasional use, with the Republic of Ireland becoming the usual name in British English, esp. since the 1970s.In quot. 1921¹ referring to the Irish Republic, unilaterally declared in 1919 and ending with the establishment of the Irish Free State.