liberaladj.n.

Brit.

/ˈlɪb(ə)rəl/,

/ˈlɪb(ə)rl̩/, U.S.

/ˈlɪb(ə)rəl/

Forms: Middle English leberall, Middle English leberalle, Middle English liberales (modifying a plural noun), Middle English liberalule (transmission error), Middle English libral, Middle English lyberalle, Middle English–1500s lyberal, Middle English–1500s lyberall, Middle English–1600s liberall, Middle English–1600s liberalle, Middle English– liberal; Scottish pre-1700 leberale, pre-1700 libberall, pre-1700 liberaill, pre-1700 liberale, pre-1700 liberalis (modifying a plural noun), pre-1700 liberall, pre-1700 lyberall, pre-1700 1700s– liberal.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French liberal; Latin līberālis.

Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman and Middle French liberal (French libéral ) free in giving, generous, benevolent, magnanimous (12th cent. in Old French), suitable for a free or noble person (c1200; especially of studies, education, arts, professions), independent, unconstrained (14th cent.), (of the will) free (14th cent.), of noble birth (14th cent.), (with reference to the ancient world) free, not servile (late 14th cent.), speaking freely (c1480), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin līberālis of or relating to a free man, worthy or typical of a free man (especially of studies, education, arts, professions), worthy of a free man in personal appearance, fine, noble, magnanimous, obliging, free in giving, generous, done or provided on a generous scale, lavish < līber free (perhaps < the same Italic base as Paelignian loufir , Faliscan loferta (although the vocalism is problematic) < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος : see eleuthero- comb. form) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare Old Occitan liberal , Catalan liberal (14th cent.), Spanish liberal (13th cent.), Portuguese liberal (14th cent.), Italian liberale (13th cent.). Compare liberal arts n., liberally adv., liberality n., liberalness n.In political use (see senses A. 5, B. 3 and also A. 4, B. 4) ultimately after French libéral favouring individual liberties, especially political liberty (1750; 2nd half of 18th cent. as noun in this sense); this sense probably developed in French from the sense ‘generous’. Similar uses, as adjective and noun, are found in Spanish and Italian in the early 19th cent. (compare sense B. 3a and note at sense B. 3b).

A. adj.

a. Free in giving; generous, magnanimous. Also with of.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > giving > liberal giving > [adjective]

custyeOE

room-handeda1200

largea1225

free?c1225

plenteousc1350

bounteousc1374

liberalc1384

free-hearteda1398

ungnedea1400

royalc1405

opena1425

plentifula1475

profuse?a1475

ungrighta1475

lavishc1475

almifluent1477

prodigous1477

frank1484

bountiful1508

largifluent?a1525

munificent1565

magnificent1577

largeous1583

munifical1583

magnifical1586

free-handed1592

frolic1593

open-handed1593

magnific?1594

prodigal1595

goodwillya1598

communicativea1602

real1602

prodig1605

unniggard1605

generous1615

open-hearteda1617

large-handeda1628

unniggardly1628

fluent1633

profusive1638

numerous1655

largifical1656

insordid1660

unsparing1667

dispensive1677

expensive1678

wasteful1701

flush1703

unboundeda1704

genteel1741

munific1745

magnifique1751

ungrudginga1774

unstinting1845

brickish1860

flaithulach1876

princely1889

outgiving1896

sharing1922

two-handed1929

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Macc. iv. 49 Men of Tyre..weren most liberal [L. liberalissimi] aȝeinis the birying of hem.

c1410 tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 119 In fiȝtinge he was strong, in giffynge liberal.

c1450 ABC of Aristotle (Lamb. 853) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 12 L to looth for to leene, ne to liberal of goodis.

c1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Tiber.) l. 22438 (MED) They seyne eke they be lyberal, Though they be streyte and ravynous.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ecclus. xxxi. 23 Who so is liberall in dealynge out his meate, many men shall blesse him.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward V f. j^v Somwhat aboue his power liberall.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iv. i. 435 I see sir you are liberall in offers.

1659 H. Hammond Paraphr. & Annot. Psalms (lxvi. 15 Paraphr.) 324 This I will now doe in the liberallest and most magnificent manner.

1705 W. Coward Abramideis iii. 148 She..Bids me with Liberal Heart, and forward Care Drink unmolested.

1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 413 Knaves in office..liberal of their aid To clamorous importunity in rags.

1860 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 16 June 231/2 The bearers..are persons to whom you cannot be too liberal.

1885 J. Ruskin Præterita I. vi. 184 Wisely liberal of his money for comfort and pleasure.

1948 ‘R. Crompton’ Family Roundabout iv. 50 Though Mrs. Willoughby scrutinized every halfpenny and every ounce, she was a liberal provider.

1986 R. Narayan Talkative Man 60 He was very liberal in entertaining me.

2003 M. Gillette & L. Zehngut tr. F. P. de Guzmán Pen Portraits Illustrious Castilians 12 She was liberal and generous, but highly influenced and easily swayed by her favorites.

b. Of a gift, etc.: made without holding back, unstinted; (of a meal, etc.) abundant, ample. Also figurative copious; of large size or in large amounts.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > abundance > [adjective] > liberal or unstinted in quantity

sparelessa1400

liberalc1405

ample1447

unstinted1480

superaboundinga1513

rich1561

handsome1577

free1635

unstraitened1665

unmeasured out1667

generous1720

usurious1780

stintless1844

showering1892

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §855 We knowen þ^t youre liberal grace & mercy strecchen ferther in to goodnesse than doon oure outrageouse giltes.

1433 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. July 1433 §19. m. 15 Of the whiche his liberall offre þe said lords þankid hym.

1461 J. Russe in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 247 There be jentilmen sones of lesse reputacion that hath mony more lyberal x tymez than he hath.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xx[i]. 3 Thou hast preuented him with liberall blessinges.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward V f. iij^v Whith ouer liberall and wanton diet, he waxed somewhat corpulent and bourly.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 462 The lyon hauing beene lately filled with some liberall prey did not presently fall to eate him.

1689 Bp. G. Burnet Tracts I. 19 To correct the moisture of the Air with liberal entertainments.

1696 T. Comber Disc. Consecrating 478 Some of our liberalest foundations..are of their Erection.

1705 J. Gaskarth Beautiful Sanctuary 12 It would be an indecorous thing to offer that which is a Liberal Gift, or Largess in respect of a Peasant.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth xi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 293 ‘A liberal offer’..said the Host of the Griffin.

1843 R. S. Candlish in J. L. Watson Life R. S. Candlish (1882) viii. 88 My cordial thanks for the liberal provision you have made for me.

1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xxxvi. 327 The men drank it [sc. beer] in most liberal quantities.

1936 D. McCowan Animals Canad. Rockies iii. 30 The grey wolf..is grey in colour with a liberal sprinkling of black and brown in the coat.

1974 S. Clapham Greenhouse Bk. xv. 148 Frequent sponging of the large leaves and liberal watering will help to keep this plant healthy in summer.

1988 I. McDonald Desolation Road xlv. 216 He poured himself another liberal brandy.

2006 Toronto Star 5 Aug. a1/2 Jamaican culture is now mainstream... Liberal doses of ‘patwa’ punctuating schoolyard chatter.

c. Of the body or a part of it: ample, full, large.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > breast or breasts (of woman) > [adjective] > types of

milky1557

milkful1589

full-breasted1611

liberal?1624

milkless1636

busty1867

bosomful1870

pneumatic1910

bosomy1928

top-heavy1934

breasty1937

well-endowed1951

chesty1955

?1624 G. Chapman tr. Hymn to Apollo in tr. Crowne Homers Wks. 43 Then..show'de The infinite Vale of Crissa, that doth shroud All rich Moraea, with her liberall brest.

1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse i. vi. 179 in Wks. II Against this husband; Who, if we chance to change his liberall eares, To other ensignes, and with labour make A new beast of him.

1798 W. S. Landor Gebir i. 204 More of pleasure than disdain Was in her dimpled chin and liberal lip.

1885 Outing Nov. 157/1 One big fat man, with a stack of chins on his shirt front and a pair of pince-nez eye-glasses awry on his liberal nose.

1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. IV. 381 I think I have observed that women of slender frame more often contract renal disease under pregnancy than those of more liberal outline.

1917 H. H. Bancroft In these Latter Days vi. 131 Rather a thin frame withal, though with a liberal paunch.

2009 E. Chenoweth Hello Goodbye 166 Those liberal breasts, those large, pale-lashed eyes, that yielding mouth.

d. Modifying an agent noun: that freely or copiously performs the action specified.

ΚΠ

1663 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) ii. i. 87/1 So much..as may suffice a Child that is a liberal Sucker.

1841 Merchants' Mag. June 516 If we cast our eyes over the Union, we find in every part of it the people liberal consumers of goods subject to duty.

1862 Continental Monthly Oct. 454/2 He was a liberal imbiber of his own compounds.

1919 H. W. Vaughan Types & Market Classes Live Stock (ed. 5) 24 Excepting Australia and New Zealand, the inhabitants of the United States are the most liberal eaters of beef, mutton, and pork.

2005 W. Poundstone Fortune's Formula (2006) i. 63 Kelly was a chain-smoker and liberal drinker.

2. Esp. of an occupation, education, or area of study: (in early use) worthy of or suitable for a person of noble birth or superior social status; characteristic of such a person. In later use: directed to a general broadening of the mind; not restricted to the requirements of technical or professional training. See also liberal arts n., liberal studies n. at Compounds 2.Originally opposed to servile or mechanical; now usually with admixture of sense A. 4a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [adjective]

liberalc1390

ingenuous1611

ingeniousa1616

society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [adjective] > liberal

freeOE

liberalc1390

scientific1589

society > society and the community > social class > nobility > aristocracy or upper class > gentry > [adjective] > natural or appropriate to

liberalc1390

gentlemanly1462

genteel1602

society > education > [adjective] > general

liberal1509

encyclical1616

encyclic1867

multidisciplined1942

multidisciplinary1944

pluri-disciplinary1970

transdisciplinary1979

c1390 (?c1350) St. Augustine l. 80 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 63 (MED) Of artes þe bokes alle, Þat liberales clerkes don calle..I radde al way.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xv. viii. 729 Athene..was sometyme norysshe of philisophres and modir of liberal lettres [L. liberalium litterarum].

c1425 Bk. Found. St. Bartholomew's (1923) 40 (MED) A certeyn man, Hubert..cumme of grete kyne, informyd yn liberall science.

c1480 (a1400) St. Alexis 111 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 444 Þai set hyme ayrly to þe schule, artis liberalis for-thy þat he suld cone.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xvi. 62 Physyke can not be lyberall As the vii. science by good auctorite.

1557 New Test. (Geneva) Epist. iiij They..beat their wittes night and daie in the artes liberall or other sciences.

1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. G2 It behooued her to further his Destinies with some good and liberall education.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Surrey 82 He made any liberal imployment beseem him, Reading, Writing [etc.].

1741 C. Middleton Hist. Life Cicero I. i. 7 Agriculture was held the most liberal employment in old Rome.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 478 The ingenious arts and the liberal professions.

a1797 E. Burke Ess. Abridgm. Eng. Hist. (rev. ed.) in Wks. (1812) V. 505 They are..permitted..to emerge out of that low rank into a more liberal condition.

1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod i. iii. 40 Two centuries back horse-racing was considered as a liberal pastime, practised for pleasure rather than profit.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 55 They wandered to countries which neither mercantile avidity nor liberal curiosity had ever impelled any stranger to explore.

1905 Educ. Rev. 29 63 A four years' course of liberal, non-professional study.

1979 Observer 16 Dec. 5/8 A hastily improvised organisation of amateurs chiefly drawn from the liberal professions.

2000 T. Dickson Mass Media Educ. in Transition vii. 126 Students in media-related fields need to obtain a liberal as well as a practical education.

†a. Free from restraint; speaking or acting freely; (in negative sense) unrestrained by prudence or decorum. Obsolete.Compare earlier liberal arbitre n.Common in the 17th cent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > incautiousness > [adjective] > imprudent

undiscreetc1340

unadviseda1382

unprudenta1382

imprudentc1386

unredya1387

loose1390

misadvisedc1390

unavisyc1420

unvertyc1485

liberala1500

unprovident1565

unconsultinga1586

ill-adviseda1593

unforeseeing1602

injudicial1607

unvised1609

improvidenta1616

indiscreeta1616

disadvised?a1648

unprudential1650

injudicious1710

unadvising1719

unprovidential1837

society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > freedom of action or from restraint > [adjective] > in action, conduct, or habit

freec1300

unbridledc1374

riotous?1456

liberala1500

unrestrained1531

libertine1593

relaxed1623

long-waisted1647

self-abandoning1817

laissez-aller1818

self-abandoned1833

uninhibited1880

un-Victorian1908

leggo1943

zizzy1966

loose1968

a1500 in T. Wright Songs & Carols (1847) 88 (MED) Women be trew as tyrtyll on tre, Not liberall in langag, but ever in secrete.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. QQvii^v And where there is a quicke wyt and a lyberall tong, there is moche speche.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 93 A ruffian..Who hath indeede most like a liberall villaine, Confest the vile encounters they haue had.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. i. 167 Is he not a most prophane and liberall Counsellour?

a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Captaine ii. ii, in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Gg3^v/2 And give allowance to your liberall jests Upon his person.

1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon iii. ix. 469 I shall not..attempt to pass so liberal a judgment upon a person I am, for so many respects, oblig'd to honour.

1689 A. Wood Life & Times 31 Aug. (1894) III. 309 Mr. Henry Dodwell,..liberal in his discourse at London, so much that a gent. threatened to bring him into danger.

1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 79. ⁋4 The Old Devil at Temple-Bar,..where Ben. Johnson and his Sons used to make their liberal Meetings.

1730 J. Thomson Trag. Sophonisba v. ii. 60 Friendship for once Must, tho' thou blushest, wear a liberal tongue.

1837 Lit. Gaz. 24 June 404/3 This lady..had been very liberal in her castigation of Mr. Barney Parsons.

1874 T. B. Aldrich Prudence Palfrey xv. 246 In the South his free, liberal ways would be thought nothing of; but here they seem strange, to say the least.

b. Of passage or access: freely permitted, unobstructed.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > lack of subjection > permission > [adjective] > permitted or allowed > freely permitted

welcomea1400

liberal1530

1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII c. 14 His lyberall and free habytations resortes and passages to and fro the vniuersall places of this realme.

1532 Act 23 Hen. VIII c. 18 Ships should haue their liberall and direct passage in the mids of the streames of the said riuer of Ouse and water of Humber.

1628 H. Reynolds tr. T. Tasso Aminta v. i. sig. K Shee gaue her sorrowes A liberall passage through her earnest cryes.

1706 J. Harvey Præsagium Medicum 163 A liberal Passage for the Air, so necessary to moderate the Voice, is altogether obstructed.

1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxviii. 69 He in a closed field gave scope of liberal entry.

1908 Public Libraries June 199/1 The locked case and closed book room..has given way to a more liberal access to books.

1965 W. H. Auden About House 59 Each Is born with the right Of liberal passage To Dame Philology's Realm.

2000 A. Gambe Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship iv. 126 The once liberal passage for the Chinese to the Nanyang was reversed.

c. Broadly construed or interpreted; not strictly literal; loose.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > [adjective] > exact, accurate > not

liberala1637

widish1845

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > translation > [adjective] > free

libertine1656

free1728

liberal1778

a1637 H. Calthrop Rep. Cases London (1655) 7 This Charter..shall have a liberall construction, and not be streined unto a speciall intent as a patent of charge shall be.

1778 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Wks. (1859) I. 146 I have added Latin, or liberal English translations.

1792 A. Hamilton Let. 26 May in Papers (1966) XI. 443 A disposition on my part towards a liberal construction of the powers of the National Government.

1804 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. III. 455 The learned Commentator..put a much more liberal construction on the dictum in the Year Book.

1865 Q. Rev. 117 467 When they met this statement in Scripture they gave it the benefit of a liberal interpretation.

1930 Mod. Lang. Notes 45 394 There is an interesting parallel..in Erasmus's Praise of Folly, which I give below in a not too liberal translation.

1968 U.S. Rep. (Supreme Court) 389 367 The Amendment deserves..a liberal construction in order to protect against warrantless searches of buildings.

2003 A. Stanford Asperger Syndrome & Long-term Relationships (2005) ii. 32 Some diagnosticians have a more liberal interpretation of the diagnosis and cast a wider net.

a. Free from bias, prejudice, or bigotry; open-minded, tolerant; governing or governed by relaxed principles or rules; (Politics) favouring social reform and a degree of state intervention in matters of economics and social justice; left-wing.See note at sense B. 4b; not to be confused with the political use at sense A. 5a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > absence of prejudice > [adjective]

unpossesseda1586

affectionless1595

respectless1598

unprejudicating1602

spacious1609

unprejudicate1609

unprejudicated1609

undifferencing?1624

unprepossessed1629

imprejudicate1640

unprejudiced1641

unprejudicial1641

unpreoccupated1641

unsuperstitious1652

moderate1654

unforestalled1657

unengaged1659

equipondious1661

uncaptivated1678

unbiased1686

unbigoted1711

Whiggish1715

open-minded1748

progressive1780

liberal1781

prejudiceless1830

broad1832

great-eyed1850

synoptic1852

undogmatic1857

undogmatical1863

superstitionless1879

race-blind1900

personless1932

verlig1968

society > morality > rightness or justice > [adjective] > fair or equitable > specifically of persons

evenlylOE

liberal1781

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxx. 142 A Grecian philosopher, who visited Constantinople soon after the death of Theodosius, published his liberal opinions concerning the duties of kings.

1803 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 9 444 A liberal investigation of the curative power of topical cold to arthritic inflammation.

1819 W. T. W. Tone Ess. improving National Forces 67 How must it excite the indignation of a liberal mind, to behold the rights and privileges of more than one hundred thousand of the bravest..subjects in the world,..trampled upon, by an itinerant state-quack.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 467 The resentment which Innocent felt towards France, disposed him to take a mild and liberal view of the affairs of England.

1889 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 180 There are thousands upon thousands of playgoers..who are too liberal and well balanced to fear contamination from seeing a drama acted.

1919 T. E. Lawrence Let. 27 Sept. (1938) 293 So long as we are the more liberal (‘left’ in the Parliamentary sense) we call the tune.

1940 T. Wolfe & E. C. Aswell You can't go Home Again iii. xxiii. 350 She liked..to know worth-while people with liberal minds.

1950 Billboard 9 Sept. 5/1 The commies know they [sc. liberal organizations] are good, and that they support liberal causes, and so the Commies are trying their best to take over many of these.

1969 C. Davidson in A. Cockburn & R. Blackburn Student Power 342 Female students are permitted to determine how strict or ‘liberal’ their dorm hours might be.

1981 G. Swift Shuttlecock vii. 24 We walk up and down the corridors (the hospital is run on liberal lines and is quite tolerant about this).

1995 Denver Post 5 Nov. e3/4 It's time we get serious about..protecting the culture of our nation from liberal socialists and multiculturalists.

2007 Guardian (Nexis) 18 June 35 The editor of Cif points out that the Guardian is so liberal it allows itself to be criticised in its own space.

2008 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 July a15/2 If the ‘too liberal’ label sticks, Mr. Obama won't win.

b. Theology (originally U.S.). Regarding many traditional beliefs as dispensable, invalidated by modern thought, or liable to change; open to the reception of new ideas or proposals of reform.In early use chiefly with reference to Unitarianism or Universalism.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > sect > Judaism > [adjective] > reform

liberal1807

reformed1844

society > faith > aspects of faith > free thought > [adjective]

free-thinking1691

liberalist1824

liberalistic1836

liberal1846

1807 Panoplist Feb. 427/2 If, therefore, one of these liberal Christians shall explain away the whole faith of the church of God concerning the new birth [etc.].

1828 (title) Which society shall you join, liberal or orthodox?

1846 O. W. Holmes Rhymed Lesson 308 Thine eyes behold A cheerful Christian from the liberal fold.

1886 W. P. Roberts Liberalism in Relig. 56 I maintain that Liberal Protestantism, Liberal Christianity, is not anti-dogmatic, is not anti-theological.

1920 R. Macaulay Potterism vi. v. 253 Modernist liberal-catholic vicars asked him to preach.

1965 Listener 16 Sept. 414/2 The divide between the conservative evangelical tradition and liberal theology.

1968 B. M. G. Reardon (title) Liberal Protestantism.

1990 W. Sheed Ess. in Disguise ii. ix. 105 Wills clearly has it in for the liberal Catholics, and seems to accuse them of baring and ruining the choirs.

c. Judaism. Of or designating any form of Judaism which reinterprets Jewish tradition in the light of contemporary ideas and values; spec. (usually with capital initial) of or designating a British movement founded by C. G. Montefiore in 1902, being more radical than Reform Judaism.

ΚΠ

1845 Christian Remembrancer July 239 Judaism appears from this pamphlet to be divided into liberal and illiberal. This is the production of a liberal Jew.

1869 Catholic World Nov. 202/1 An orthodox Jew sent an essay and a liberal Jew spoke.

1900 Jewish Q. Rev. 12 618 These liberal Jews have no organization.

1903 C. G. Montefiore (title) Liberal Judaism.

1965 Sunday Times 5 Feb. 5/3 A plan for a national conference of non-orthodox synagogues, Reform (progressive) and Liberal.

1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Apr. 424/4 Judaism is divided into Orthodox, Conservative and Reform varieties following the American terminology, and not into the British Orthodox, Reform and Liberal camps.

2002 T. M. Endelman Jews of Brit. vi. 248 The Orthodox blamed Reform and Liberal Jews, for their secularism, lack of standards, and ignorance of tradition.

5. Politics.

a. Supporting or advocating individual rights, civil liberties, and political and social reform tending towards individual freedom or democracy with little state intervention.See also neoliberal adj.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > left > liberal

liberal1790

liberal1814

liberalistic1836

pinko-liberal1926

bourgeois-liberal1936

1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. to Henry VII I. ii. 65 Alfred took care to temper these rigors by other institutions favourable to the freedom and security of the citizens; and nothing could be more popular and liberal than his plan for the administration of justice.]

1790 Eng. Chron. 2 Feb. The progress of the Mal François, or of liberal and rational politics, is dreaded by the Aristocracy.

1801 H. M. Williams Sketches Manners French Republic I. xi. 113 The extinction of every vestige of freedom, and of every liberal idea with which they are associated.

1842 R. Cobden Speech in J. Morley Life R. Cobden (1882) x. 34/2 I believe the right hon. Baronet [Peel] to be as liberal as the noble Lord [J. Russell].

1875 E. C. Stedman Victorian Poets (1887) vii. 256 Various poems are of a democratic, liberal stripe, inspired by the struggle then commencing over Europe.

1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. 512/2 The dominant liberal ideas were freedom and a certain vague equalitarianism.

1960 Guardian 6 Oct. 10/4 Britain, as a liberal state, engaged in working out the logic of decolonisation.

1975 Govt. & Opposition 10 277 The mobilizational capacity is higher than in a liberal pluralist society.

2006 B. Hilton Mad, Bad, & Dangerous People? viii. 559 There was continuous strife in the Iberian peninsula, ostensibly between royal absolutists and liberal constitutionalists.

b. Frequently with capital initial. Designating any of various political parties advocating individual rights and freedoms; of, belonging to, or characteristic of such a party, esp. (in various countries) the Liberal Party or (in Britain) the Liberal Democrats.Recorded earliest in liberal party (see Liberal Party n. at Compounds 2).See note at sense B. 3b.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > left > liberal

liberal1790

liberal1814

liberalistic1836

pinko-liberal1926

bourgeois-liberal1936

1780 C. Lofft Argument on Party & Faction 41 You have the liberal party of integrity and honest independence to chuse, opposed to servility and corruption.]

1814 Caledonian Mercury 26 May General Lacy..has been placed at the head of the troops which the liberal party [in Spain] has collected to support its cause.

1828 Newcastle Courant 31 May Those deep and unprincipled intrigues which have recently distinguished the liberal faction.

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. ii. 57 Harold meant to stand on the Liberal side.

1881 M. E. Herbert Edith 190 The Liberal Government had outlived its popularity.

1943 Times 27 Sept. 5/6 Two of the lost Liberal seats were won by the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation.

1974 P. Blazey & A. Campbell Polit. Dice Men 47 When he got to Canberra, with all the other new Liberal members, he found he was treated with sympathy.

2004 Jewish Chron. 26 Mar. 10/2 Remarks to a pro-Palestinian lobby—which led to the MP's sacking from the Liberal front-bench.

c. Economics. Favouring or characterized by unrestricted trade. Cf. free trade n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > importing and exporting > [adjective] > favouring free trade

free-trading1785

liberal1816

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. iv. v. 125 Were all nations to follow the liberal system of free exportation and free importation, the different states into which a great continent was divided would so far resemble the different provinces of a great empire.]

1816 Monthly Rev. May 53 The author is a great friend to those liberal principles of trade which propose to allow all nations to barter with all, without any duties, prohibitions, bounties, or restrictions.

1863 Brit. Amer. Mag. 520 The latter had decidedly the advantage over the former in the more liberal system of trade established by the government.

1909 R. L. Bridgman Passing of Tariff iv. 63 Men of liberal views can contemplate the outcome with deep satisfaction, foreseeing the end of the tariff of obstruction.

1964 Guardian 1 Apr. 14/3 France is still a capital importer and closed to foreign issues, and the ‘planification’ of credits is also an obstacle to a more liberal capital market.

1982 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 8 At heart, Thatcherism is a liberal economic reaction to the collectivism and corporatism of the past 40 years.

2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) ii. 57 Law is seen as an encumbrance to liberal free marketeers, save in the ways it protects commercial transactions.

B. n.

†1. A generous or bountiful person. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1611 Bible (King James) Isa. xxxii. 8 The liberall deuiseth liberall things.

1692 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §105 Let them find by experience, that the most liberal has always most plenty.

1806 C. Buck Theol. Dict. (ed. 2) 167 There the liberal may learn to devise liberal things.

†2. Criminals' slang. A prominent member of a criminal gang. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > a criminal or law-breaker > gangster > specific

liberal1638

liberty boy1733

gang leader1775

Camorrist1863

mafioso1875

gangster1900

amalaita1908

dada1917

paesanoa1930

skolly1934

Mafiaist1948

oyabun1948

yakuza1964

mafiosa1965

goombah1968

rascal1978

yardie1986

new jack1988

lynch man2004

1638 W. Melvin tr. C. Garcia Sonne of Rogue 246 Over all these a kinde of Theeves bearesway [sic], called among us Liberalls,..and these are the wittyest of all the company, and those who as it were indued with the best wit and invention.

3. Politics. Chiefly with capital initial. A person advocating political and social reform tending towards individual freedom or democracy; a member or supporter of the Liberal Party. See sense A. 5.

a. In continental Europe and elsewhere.In early use with reference to anti-monarchist parties in Spain and France. The term is later used with reference to various political parties, usually occupying a position somewhere between socialism and conservatism.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > specific parties or groups in Europe generally > members of

Caesarean1528

liberal1814

Christian Democrat1840

possibilist1886

1814 Leeds Mercury 8 Oct. He has nominated a commission to try the Members of the Cortes, called in derision, the Liberals, (for liberal sentiments are a crime in his eyes) now in prison.

1817 Times 12 Apr. 2/3 We are afraid that the Liberals, as they are sometimes called in Paris, are liberal to all but their own master.

1819 Examiner 26 Sept. 612/1 The elections for the third series have given for their result 37 Liberals, among whom is one regicide.

1832 Liberal (St. Thomas, Upper Canada) 20 Sept. 3/4 We shall first notice the slanderous imputations cast upon the Liberals, that they are a discontented set of men, ever on the watch to find occasion for complaint and clamour.

1854 N.Y. Tribune 22 Apr. 5/5 The ‘Liberals’ of Maine have called a ‘State Democratic Mass Convention’ at Portland.

1885 C. Lowe Life Bismarck I. 469 This was evidently the calculation of the Liberals in the Reichstag, when..they began a series of attempts to cobble at the Constitution.

1918 H. V. Evatt Liberalism Austral. x. 66 The Sydney press claimed that its own free traders were the Liberals.

1924 B. Vanzetti Let. 15 Sept. in N. Sacco & B. Vanzetti Lett. (1997) ii. i. 128 The ‘opposition’ is composed of the Liberals, Democratic, Demo-socialist..and the Popular (Catholic party).

1959 J. Rothschild Communist Party of Bulgaria ii. 38 Of the 175 members of the prorogued Sobranie, 150 had been Liberals and 6 belonged to Malinov's Democratic Party.

2002 T. L. Hill Canad. Politics 194/1 Beryl Gaffney, a Liberal, was the one and only MP for Nepean.

b. In Britain. In later use also: a member of the Liberal Democrats.In early use the noun was applied chiefly by opponents to the advanced section of the Whig party, apparently with the intention of suggesting that the principles of those politicians were similar to those of the ‘revolutionary’ parties on the Continent (see sense B. 3a). As, however, the English adjective already had positive connotations, the advocates of reform were not reluctant to use the term to describe themselves. When the old party distinctions were obliterated by the coalition of the advanced Whigs with the Radicals and of the moderate Whigs with the Tories, the new names Liberal and Conservative took the place of Whig and Tory as the usual names for the two chief political parties (until, in the 1920s, the Labour Party became the chief alternative to the Conservatives). By the end of the 19th cent. the focus of the Liberal Party had changed from advocating individual rights and freedom from state interference to favouring state intervention in matters of economics and social justice. Thus members of the Liberal Party and (later) the Liberal Democrats could also be described as liberals in sense B. 4b. [The Spanish, French, and Italian nouns are also sometimes found in English in the first half of the 19th cent. with reference to British or U.S. people (especially politicians), with the intention of associating these people with continental European radicalism. Compare:

1816 R. Southey in Q. Rev. 15 69 These are the personages for whose sake the continuance of the Alien Bill has been opposed by the British Liberales.

1817 Niles' Reg. 15 Nov. 192/1 Mr. Lloyd's resignation of his seat in congress, has given rise to a new collision at Boston. Mr. Mason..was nominated by a federal caucus as his successor; but Mr. M. being thought too much of a liberale was set aside by another caucus.

1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 19 Nov. (1939) 279 Canning, Huskisson, and a mitigated party of Liberaux.

1834 M. Edgeworth Helen III. iii. 66 That one born and bred such an ultra exclusive..should be obliged after her marriage..to open her doors and turn ultra liberale, or an universal suffragist.

]

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [noun] > a Liberal

Liberal Party1814

liberal1819

Lib1885

1819 Times 20 Sept. 3/2 The popular frenzy, or, in the language of the Liberals, synonimous with Radicals, the popular zeal could not be restrained.

1822 (title) The Liberal. Verse and prose from the South.

1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. II. xi. 77 Newer and more thorough-going Whigs..were known by the name of Radicals, and have since been called..Liberals.

1865 J. S. Mill in Morning Star 6 July A Liberal is he who looks forward for his principles of government; a Tory looks backward.

1924 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 18 338 Facing the divided, confused Conservatives..were enthusiastic, unified Liberals and an excellently disciplined Labor party.

1962 Guardian 10 July 18/7 The Liberals alone have a consistently pro-European tradition.

1973 Times 6 June 18/2 Graham Tope, a Liberal, swept to victory..on a platform of community politics.

2005 A. Russell & E. Fieldhouse Neither Left nor Right? v. 109 The Liberals have been the clear second choice party of both Conservative and Labour voters since 1979.

a. Chiefly U.S. A person who holds liberal views in theology. See sense A. 4b.

ΚΠ

1818 S. L. Knapp Extracts Jrnl. Trav. N. Amer. ii. 15 The main point in dispute between them..is whether according to their book there are three Gods or one God... The Calvinists maintain the former, the Liberals the latter opinion.

1887 Beacon (Boston, Mass.) 8 Jan. In Boston a minister is called a liberal when he rejects the Andover creed, and, perhaps, the Apostles' Creed.

1938 Jrnl. Bible & Relig. 6 86 The form critics claim correctly that the gospels are colored by primitive Christian beliefs and practices (as liberals have long admitted).

1954 J. D. Smart Teaching Ministry of Church vi. 109 By some liberals it was even suggested that one might serve Jesus Christ more effectively through some other channel than the Church.

2002 R. Balmer & L. F. Winner Protestantism in Amer. i. 25 Whereas evangelicals want to approach the Bible literally..liberals are more likely to see biblical writings as time-bound and open to allegorical interpretations.

b. A liberal-minded person; a person holding liberal left-wing views. See sense A. 4a.See also limousine liberal n. at limousine n. b.Often used by the political right (esp. in the United States) almost synonymously with communist or socialist (cf. quot. 1998 and pinko-liberal n.).

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > socialism > [adjective] > other types of socialism

societarian1822

Saint-Simonian1830

Saint-Simonite1831

democratic socialist1848

social democratic1848

social democratic1849

social democratic1850

internationalist1871

social democrat1874

state socialist1882

utopian socialist1884

scientific socialist1887

state-capitalistic1896

revisionist1903

state capitalist1904

liberal1955

1859 Brit. Jrnl. Homœopathy 17 302 All the ‘liberals’ who were in office were ejected.

1881 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 951/2 ‘Liberals’ are the only professed and open defenders of dirt, as it is represented by the men who are interested in pushing impure literature through the mails.

1920 Standard Feb. 179/2 Due to the efforts of certain American liberals, the Secretary of War announced what was ostensibly a broad-minded policy concerning this problem [sc. conscientious objectors].

1955 D. Viklund tr. Tingsten Probl. S. Afr. x. 116 A Communist in South Africa is often, according to the general usage of the word, a liberal.

1979 N.Y. Mag. 9 Apr. 114/3 There were no bleeding-heart liberals pleading the case for school-dropout punks, junkies, muggers, and rapists.

1988 H. Mantel Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1989) 229 I had some talks with Yasmin about Islam. She was quite relaxed about it. I thought she was a liberal.

1998 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Feb. 166/2 Albert Gore Sr..was a proud southern liberal at a time when the l-word was not the worst thing you could call a Democratic politician.

Compounds

C1.

a. Parasynthetic. See also liberal-minded adj.

liberal-hearted adj. and n.

ΚΠ

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxv. 167 The liberall harted man is by the opinion of the prodigall miserable.

1667 E. Waterhouse Short Narr. Fire London 152 That Magnanimous and liberal hearted Benefactor to London.

1758 J. Massie Plan Establishm. Charity-houses 58 The well-educated or liberal-hearted among them, may not from thence receive any hard Prejudices concerning the Poor.

1851 J. H. Ross What I saw in N.-Y. 52 He..seems to take more notice of the mischievous boys than of the liberal-hearted.

1924 W. A. White Woodrow Wilson xiv. 301 The mistakes of a liberal-hearted President.

2003 N. Peter in D. E. James Sons & Daughters of Los xi. 213 A liberal-hearted openness that allows for radical inquiry into many diverse religious texts.

b. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘liberal and ——’.

liberal-anarchic adj.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > lack of power > [adjective] > tending to or involving anarchy > without supreme government

anarchical1646

anarchic1656

anarchal1786

liberal-anarchic1933

1933 Encycl. Social Sci. XI. 434 A straight line development from a rigidly stratified occupational organization bound by tradition toward a liberal-anarchic freedom of occupational choice.

1964 New Society 13 Feb. 17/2 The progressive schools have been liberal-anarchic, the product of free enterprise in unorthodox educational ideas.

2003 V. Tismaneanu Stalinism for all Seasons v. 148 All politburo members were instructed to oppose revisionism and ‘liberal-anarchic’ tendencies.

liberal-bourgeois adj.

ΚΠ

1910 Mother Earth July 172 The latter thus ceased to be an inspirational force and became a mere liberal-bourgeois political party.

1951 A. Koestler Age of Longing vi. 103 Where did you pick up this idea out of the liberal-bourgeois philosophy of law?

2001 E. Sagan Citizens & Cannibals iv. 74 Why, we may still ask, did the liberal-bourgeois elite members of society let the revolution get out of their hands?

liberal-cultural adj.

ΚΠ

1934 Peabody Jrnl. Educ. 11 159 A large part of the third-year's work is made up of the liberal-cultural and technical courses.

1953 A. K. C. Ottaway Educ. & Society v. 88 The supporter of the pure liberal-cultural tradition.

1998 L. M. Hogeland Feminism & its Fictions iv. 103 The difference between Sanborn's liberal-cultural feminism and MacKinnon's radical feminism.

liberal-empiricist adj.

ΚΠ

1949 Mind 58 254 More than anyone, except perhaps Bertrand Russell, he [sc. L. T. Hobhouse] may be regarded as the inheritor of the liberal-empiricist mantle of John Stuart Mill.

2004 F. Kerr in R. Abbey Charles Taylor iii. 89 Taylor wants to distance himself from the liberal-empiricist tradition.

liberal-humanist adj.

ΚΠ

1936 C. Day Lewis Revol. in Writing in Time to Dance 81 But for the last 100 years this background has been disintegrating, till now nothing remains of it but a few faded tatters stitched together with every variety of pseudo-scientific, mystico-emotional, liberal-humanist material.

1957 N. Frye Anat. Crit. 6 It would be easy to compile a long list of such determinisms in criticism, all of them, whether Marxist..liberal-humanist..or existentialist, substituting a critical attitude for criticism.

2004 L. Woodhead Introd. Christianity 407 The liberal-humanist tradition proved congruent with broader currents of political and social liberalism in modern culture.

liberal-scientific adj.

ΚΠ

1890 J. Macpherson tr. J. H. Kurtz Church Hist. III. 236 A reactionary movement, partly of a mystical-irenical, evangelical-revival and liberal-scientific, and partly of a radical-liberalistic, character.

1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Jan. 26/4 The obvious charge which can be brought against this picture of a suppressed liberal-scientific element is the undeniable fact that it never showed any signs of formulating a practical alternative to current political or ethical machinery.

2006 M. Kingwell Nearest Thing to Heaven iv. 101 The liberal-scientific worldview characteristic of modernity: success-oriented, licentious, potentially decadent.

C2.

liberal anarchism n. any of several forms of anarchism that emphasize the individual in preference to external determinants such as groups, traditions, ideologies, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > principles of or attachment to types of government > [noun] > anarchism

anarchy1609

anarchism1656

Maratism1793

antarchism1845

liberal anarchism1929

1929 L. A. Warren Mod. Spanish Lit. II. vii. 562 His main idea is liberal anarchism, an idea suited to the individualism of the Iberian race.

1964 New Society 13 Feb. 17/2 Liberal-anarchism will no longer do.

1996 D. Pepper Mod. Environmentalism (1997) i. 33 Liberal anarchism takes an anti-state, consumer movement perspective.

Liberal-Labour adj. British Politics (in early use) of or relating to members of the labour movement acting in association with the Liberal Party; (later) of or relating to both the Labour Party and the Liberal Party (or the Liberal Democrats), esp. with reference to any of various temporary alliances between them; cf. Lib-Lab adj., Labour-Liberal adj. at labour n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [adjective] > Liberal and Labour

Liberal-Labour1881

Lib-Lab1903

1881 Glasgow Herald 8 Nov. 5/5 The selection of the candidate will be decided on at a meeting of the Liberal Labour Sections this evening.

1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Oct. 7/2 Replying to inquiries made by the Liberal Labour candidate at Liverpool the following letter has been received.

1909 Daily Chron. 14 July 1/7 Mr. Hancock, the Liberal-Labour candidate for Mid-Derbyshire.

1961 I. Jennings Party Politics II. vi. 267 He was not wholly averse from a Liberal-Labour coalition.

1993 Guardian 6 May 21/4 If Martin Linton..is trying to find a Liberal-Labour pact, Devizes constituency is the wrong place to look.

Liberal-Labourism n. British Politics (now historical) Liberal-Labour politics.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > socialism > [noun] > other types of socialism

Saint-Simonism1830

democratic socialism1848

social democracy1848

scientific socialism1849

utopian socialism1849

state socialism1851

societarianism1852

internationalism1871

state capitalism?1886

nationalism1889

Liberal-Labourism1905

champagne socialism1906

maximalism1909

guild-socialism1912

Popular Frontism1938

Saint-Simonianism1974

1905 Amalgamated Engineers Monthly Jrnl. Sept. 25 Unless Liberals refuse to play the monopolist game..then Liberalism—and with it Liberal-Labourism—will be swept into merited oblivion.

1920 M. Beer Hist. Brit. Socialism II. iv. xvi. 315 In 1898 Gladstone died, and with him one of the main pillars of Liberal Labourism disappeared from British politics.

2006 D. Rubinstein Labour Party & Brit. Society i. 23 Liberal-Labourism, it seemed clear, would never be more than an insignificant tail to the great Liberal dog.

Liberal Party n. (also with lower-case initial(s)) any of various political parties advocating individual rights and freedoms, as: (a) British one of the two major political parties of the late 19th and early 20th cent.; (b) Canadian one of the two most prominent parties, formed in the mid 19th cent. and generally advocating a centrist position; (c) Australian a centre-right party founded in 1944, one of the two major political parties.In the United Kingdom, the term Liberal Party gradually displaced Whig Party over the course of the mid 19th cent., finally superseding it in the 1860s under the leadership of William Ewart Gladstone. In 1988 this party merged with the Social Democratic Party; cf. Liberal Democrat n.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > other national politics > [noun] > specific parties in Australia

Liberal Party1814

ALP1922

U.A.P.1936

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [noun] > a Liberal

Liberal Party1814

liberal1819

Lib1885

society > authority > rule or government > politics > other national politics > [noun] > Canadian politics > specific party

Liberal Party1814

Socred1955

Social Credit Party1958

Parti Québécois1968

1814Liberal party [see sense A. 5b].

1814 Caledonian Mercury 30 May The liberal party (this is the name of the party which forms the majority in the Cortes), and the servile party..are on the point of coming to blows.

1846 Spectator 26 Sept. 913/1 A certain Whig section of the Liberal party in London.

1875 Daily Free Press (Winnipeg) 17 Mar. [The resolutions] are favourably received by a large majority—perhaps five-sixths—of the Liberal party of the Dominion.

1885 W. E. Gladstone in B. Holland Life Dk. Devonshire (1911) II. xxi. 91 The question of the House of Lords, of the Church, or both, will probably split the Liberal Party.

1921 B. de Siebert tr. G. Schreiner Entente Diplomacy & World iii. 466 The objections of the Liberal Party to Russian reactionariness was certainly but a faint imitation of what the French radicals felt.

1966 H. Mayer Austral. Politics 394 For Liberal party leaders, on the other hand, the Senate can be an embarrassment.

1975 Weekend Mag. (Montreal) 29 Nov. 3 Springate is at the very bottom of the Liberal Party in Quebec rather than near the top.

2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Apr. 4/4 One of the many thought-provoking features of this tour d'horizon is how close the Liberal Party has come to outright death during the time surveyed.

liberal studies n. studies directed to a general broadening of the mind and not restricted to the requirements of technical or professional training; spec. (in later use) a broadly based interdisciplinary course in the arts and humanities offered at a college or university.

ΚΠ

1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xix. xii. 141 Andronicus afterwards well knowne for his liberall studies and excellencie in Poetrie, was brought into the judgement place.

1740 ‘Sophia’ Woman's Superior Excellence over Man 71 With a lively penetrating genius he possesses solidity of judgement, both which the advantage of liberal studies has greatly improved.

1846 Times 16 Dec. 3/5 Those liberal studies which in this country enter into the education of every gentleman.

1915 Forum Feb. 216 So it appears that there is a chance for liberal studies even in a most severely utilitarian programme.

1965 Listener 11 Mar. 387/2 (advt.) The major part of the work will be teaching Sociology,..but appropriately qualified candidates will be expected to teach Liberal studies.

2006 Insider's Guide to Colleges 2007 (Yale Daily News) 680 The main requirement for freshmen is LS1, an introductory liberal studies course covering a wide range of disciplines.

liberal-talking adj. †(a) that talks excessively or unrestrainedly (obsolete); (b) expressing liberal opinions; advocating liberalism.

ΚΠ

1612 N. Field Woman a Weather-cocke iii. i. sig. F1^v Next to that, the fame, Of your neglect, and liberall talking tongue, Which bred my honour an eternall wrong.

a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) I. i. 2 One would have thought that the above mentioned liberal-talking inhabitants of Hollingford would have, at least, admitted the possibility of their voting for the Hely-Harrison.

2000 S. Jackson Lines of Activity (2001) ii. 78 Nor did it always seem to change the habitual behavior of liberal-talking reformers toward their laboring brothers.

Liberal Unionism n. now historical the principles or policy of the Liberal Unionists.

ΚΠ

1886 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 19 June 5/3 In his opinion this cry of Liberal Unionism and Liberal Unionists was simply an organised hypocrisy.

1901 Scotsman 12 Mar. 6/2 Liberal Unionism is still a vital force in British politics.

2005 I. McLean & A. McMillan State of Union (2006) v. 116 Unlike England and Scotland, Wales was infertile ground for Liberal Unionism.

Liberal Unionist n. a supporter of both liberal and unionist policies; spec. any of a group of British Liberal MPs who left the party in 1886 as a result of its support for Irish Home Rule (cf. Dissentient Liberals at dissentient adj. b) (now historical).

ΚΠ

1858 Belfast News-let. 2 July (Second ed.) The Daily News says the new Ministry belongs to the party called the Liberal Unionists.

1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 30 Aug. 3/1 One of the Liberal Unionists has pealed off: that is the most interesting thing about the division list on Mr. Parnell's amendment.

2004 G. R. Searle New Eng.? (2005) v. 170 The unbeatable combination of Conservatives and Liberal Unionists had grown out of a common determination to resist Home Rule.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	liberal
释义	liberaladj.n. Brit. /ˈlɪb(ə)rəl/, /ˈlɪb(ə)rl̩/, U.S. /ˈlɪb(ə)rəl/ Forms: Middle English leberall, Middle English leberalle, Middle English liberales (modifying a plural noun), Middle English liberalule (transmission error), Middle English libral, Middle English lyberalle, Middle English–1500s lyberal, Middle English–1500s lyberall, Middle English–1600s liberall, Middle English–1600s liberalle, Middle English– liberal; Scottish pre-1700 leberale, pre-1700 libberall, pre-1700 liberaill, pre-1700 liberale, pre-1700 liberalis (modifying a plural noun), pre-1700 liberall, pre-1700 lyberall, pre-1700 1700s– liberal. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French liberal; Latin līberālis. Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman and Middle French liberal (French libéral ) free in giving, generous, benevolent, magnanimous (12th cent. in Old French), suitable for a free or noble person (c1200; especially of studies, education, arts, professions), independent, unconstrained (14th cent.), (of the will) free (14th cent.), of noble birth (14th cent.), (with reference to the ancient world) free, not servile (late 14th cent.), speaking freely (c1480), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin līberālis of or relating to a free man, worthy or typical of a free man (especially of studies, education, arts, professions), worthy of a free man in personal appearance, fine, noble, magnanimous, obliging, free in giving, generous, done or provided on a generous scale, lavish < līber free (perhaps < the same Italic base as Paelignian loufir , Faliscan loferta (although the vocalism is problematic) < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος : see eleuthero- comb. form) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare Old Occitan liberal , Catalan liberal (14th cent.), Spanish liberal (13th cent.), Portuguese liberal (14th cent.), Italian liberale (13th cent.). Compare liberal arts n., liberally adv., liberality n., liberalness n.In political use (see senses A. 5, B. 3 and also A. 4, B. 4) ultimately after French libéral favouring individual liberties, especially political liberty (1750; 2nd half of 18th cent. as noun in this sense); this sense probably developed in French from the sense ‘generous’. Similar uses, as adjective and noun, are found in Spanish and Italian in the early 19th cent. (compare sense B. 3a and note at sense B. 3b). A. adj. 1. a. Free in giving; generous, magnanimous. Also with of. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > giving > liberal giving > [adjective] custyeOE room-handeda1200 largea1225 free?c1225 plenteousc1350 bounteousc1374 liberalc1384 free-hearteda1398 ungnedea1400 royalc1405 opena1425 plentifula1475 profuse?a1475 ungrighta1475 lavishc1475 almifluent1477 prodigous1477 frank1484 bountiful1508 largifluent?a1525 munificent1565 magnificent1577 largeous1583 munifical1583 magnifical1586 free-handed1592 frolic1593 open-handed1593 magnific?1594 prodigal1595 goodwillya1598 communicativea1602 real1602 prodig1605 unniggard1605 generous1615 open-hearteda1617 large-handeda1628 unniggardly1628 fluent1633 profusive1638 numerous1655 largifical1656 insordid1660 unsparing1667 dispensive1677 expensive1678 wasteful1701 flush1703 unboundeda1704 genteel1741 munific1745 magnifique1751 ungrudginga1774 unstinting1845 brickish1860 flaithulach1876 princely1889 outgiving1896 sharing1922 two-handed1929 c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Macc. iv. 49 Men of Tyre..weren most liberal [L. liberalissimi] aȝeinis the birying of hem. c1410 tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 119 In fiȝtinge he was strong, in giffynge liberal. c1450 ABC of Aristotle (Lamb. 853) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 12 L to looth for to leene, ne to liberal of goodis. c1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Tiber.) l. 22438 (MED) They seyne eke they be lyberal, Though they be streyte and ravynous. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ecclus. xxxi. 23 Who so is liberall in dealynge out his meate, many men shall blesse him. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward V f. j^v Somwhat aboue his power liberall. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iv. i. 435 I see sir you are liberall in offers. View more context for this quotation 1659 H. Hammond Paraphr. & Annot. Psalms (lxvi. 15 Paraphr.) 324 This I will now doe in the liberallest and most magnificent manner. 1705 W. Coward Abramideis iii. 148 She..Bids me with Liberal Heart, and forward Care Drink unmolested. 1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 413 Knaves in office..liberal of their aid To clamorous importunity in rags. 1860 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 16 June 231/2 The bearers..are persons to whom you cannot be too liberal. 1885 J. Ruskin Præterita I. vi. 184 Wisely liberal of his money for comfort and pleasure. 1948 ‘R. Crompton’ Family Roundabout iv. 50 Though Mrs. Willoughby scrutinized every halfpenny and every ounce, she was a liberal provider. 1986 R. Narayan Talkative Man 60 He was very liberal in entertaining me. 2003 M. Gillette & L. Zehngut tr. F. P. de Guzmán Pen Portraits Illustrious Castilians 12 She was liberal and generous, but highly influenced and easily swayed by her favorites. b. Of a gift, etc.: made without holding back, unstinted; (of a meal, etc.) abundant, ample. Also figurative copious; of large size or in large amounts. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > abundance > [adjective] > liberal or unstinted in quantity sparelessa1400 liberalc1405 ample1447 unstinted1480 superaboundinga1513 rich1561 handsome1577 free1635 unstraitened1665 unmeasured out1667 generous1720 usurious1780 stintless1844 showering1892 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §855 We knowen þ^t youre liberal grace & mercy strecchen ferther in to goodnesse than doon oure outrageouse giltes. 1433 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. July 1433 §19. m. 15 Of the whiche his liberall offre þe said lords þankid hym. 1461 J. Russe in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 247 There be jentilmen sones of lesse reputacion that hath mony more lyberal x tymez than he hath. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xx[i]. 3 Thou hast preuented him with liberall blessinges. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward V f. iij^v Whith ouer liberall and wanton diet, he waxed somewhat corpulent and bourly. 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 462 The lyon hauing beene lately filled with some liberall prey did not presently fall to eate him. 1689 Bp. G. Burnet Tracts I. 19 To correct the moisture of the Air with liberal entertainments. 1696 T. Comber Disc. Consecrating 478 Some of our liberalest foundations..are of their Erection. 1705 J. Gaskarth Beautiful Sanctuary 12 It would be an indecorous thing to offer that which is a Liberal Gift, or Largess in respect of a Peasant. 1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth xi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 293 ‘A liberal offer’..said the Host of the Griffin. 1843 R. S. Candlish in J. L. Watson Life R. S. Candlish (1882) viii. 88 My cordial thanks for the liberal provision you have made for me. 1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xxxvi. 327 The men drank it [sc. beer] in most liberal quantities. 1936 D. McCowan Animals Canad. Rockies iii. 30 The grey wolf..is grey in colour with a liberal sprinkling of black and brown in the coat. 1974 S. Clapham Greenhouse Bk. xv. 148 Frequent sponging of the large leaves and liberal watering will help to keep this plant healthy in summer. 1988 I. McDonald Desolation Road xlv. 216 He poured himself another liberal brandy. 2006 Toronto Star 5 Aug. a1/2 Jamaican culture is now mainstream... Liberal doses of ‘patwa’ punctuating schoolyard chatter. c. Of the body or a part of it: ample, full, large. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > breast or breasts (of woman) > [adjective] > types of milky1557 milkful1589 full-breasted1611 liberal?1624 milkless1636 busty1867 bosomful1870 pneumatic1910 bosomy1928 top-heavy1934 breasty1937 well-endowed1951 chesty1955 ?1624 G. Chapman tr. Hymn to Apollo in tr. Crowne Homers Wks. 43 Then..show'de The infinite Vale of Crissa, that doth shroud All rich Moraea, with her liberall brest. 1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse i. vi. 179 in Wks. II Against this husband; Who, if we chance to change his liberall eares, To other ensignes, and with labour make A new beast of him. 1798 W. S. Landor Gebir i. 204 More of pleasure than disdain Was in her dimpled chin and liberal lip. 1885 Outing Nov. 157/1 One big fat man, with a stack of chins on his shirt front and a pair of pince-nez eye-glasses awry on his liberal nose. 1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. IV. 381 I think I have observed that women of slender frame more often contract renal disease under pregnancy than those of more liberal outline. 1917 H. H. Bancroft In these Latter Days vi. 131 Rather a thin frame withal, though with a liberal paunch. 2009 E. Chenoweth Hello Goodbye 166 Those liberal breasts, those large, pale-lashed eyes, that yielding mouth. d. Modifying an agent noun: that freely or copiously performs the action specified. ΚΠ 1663 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) ii. i. 87/1 So much..as may suffice a Child that is a liberal Sucker. 1841 Merchants' Mag. June 516 If we cast our eyes over the Union, we find in every part of it the people liberal consumers of goods subject to duty. 1862 Continental Monthly Oct. 454/2 He was a liberal imbiber of his own compounds. 1919 H. W. Vaughan Types & Market Classes Live Stock (ed. 5) 24 Excepting Australia and New Zealand, the inhabitants of the United States are the most liberal eaters of beef, mutton, and pork. 2005 W. Poundstone Fortune's Formula (2006) i. 63 Kelly was a chain-smoker and liberal drinker. 2. Esp. of an occupation, education, or area of study: (in early use) worthy of or suitable for a person of noble birth or superior social status; characteristic of such a person. In later use: directed to a general broadening of the mind; not restricted to the requirements of technical or professional training. See also liberal arts n., liberal studies n. at Compounds 2.Originally opposed to servile or mechanical; now usually with admixture of sense A. 4a. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [adjective] liberalc1390 ingenuous1611 ingeniousa1616 society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [adjective] > liberal freeOE liberalc1390 scientific1589 society > society and the community > social class > nobility > aristocracy or upper class > gentry > [adjective] > natural or appropriate to liberalc1390 gentlemanly1462 genteel1602 society > education > [adjective] > general liberal1509 encyclical1616 encyclic1867 multidisciplined1942 multidisciplinary1944 pluri-disciplinary1970 transdisciplinary1979 c1390 (?c1350) St. Augustine l. 80 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 63 (MED) Of artes þe bokes alle, Þat liberales clerkes don calle..I radde al way. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xv. viii. 729 Athene..was sometyme norysshe of philisophres and modir of liberal lettres [L. liberalium litterarum]. c1425 Bk. Found. St. Bartholomew's (1923) 40 (MED) A certeyn man, Hubert..cumme of grete kyne, informyd yn liberall science. c1480 (a1400) St. Alexis 111 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 444 Þai set hyme ayrly to þe schule, artis liberalis for-thy þat he suld cone. 1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xvi. 62 Physyke can not be lyberall As the vii. science by good auctorite. 1557 New Test. (Geneva) Epist. iiij They..beat their wittes night and daie in the artes liberall or other sciences. 1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. G2 It behooued her to further his Destinies with some good and liberall education. a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Surrey 82 He made any liberal imployment beseem him, Reading, Writing [etc.]. 1741 C. Middleton Hist. Life Cicero I. i. 7 Agriculture was held the most liberal employment in old Rome. 1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 478 The ingenious arts and the liberal professions. View more context for this quotation a1797 E. Burke Ess. Abridgm. Eng. Hist. (rev. ed.) in Wks. (1812) V. 505 They are..permitted..to emerge out of that low rank into a more liberal condition. 1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod i. iii. 40 Two centuries back horse-racing was considered as a liberal pastime, practised for pleasure rather than profit. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 55 They wandered to countries which neither mercantile avidity nor liberal curiosity had ever impelled any stranger to explore. 1905 Educ. Rev. 29 63 A four years' course of liberal, non-professional study. 1979 Observer 16 Dec. 5/8 A hastily improvised organisation of amateurs chiefly drawn from the liberal professions. 2000 T. Dickson Mass Media Educ. in Transition vii. 126 Students in media-related fields need to obtain a liberal as well as a practical education. 3. †a. Free from restraint; speaking or acting freely; (in negative sense) unrestrained by prudence or decorum. Obsolete.Compare earlier liberal arbitre n.Common in the 17th cent. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > incautiousness > [adjective] > imprudent undiscreetc1340 unadviseda1382 unprudenta1382 imprudentc1386 unredya1387 loose1390 misadvisedc1390 unavisyc1420 unvertyc1485 liberala1500 unprovident1565 unconsultinga1586 ill-adviseda1593 unforeseeing1602 injudicial1607 unvised1609 improvidenta1616 indiscreeta1616 disadvised?a1648 unprudential1650 injudicious1710 unadvising1719 unprovidential1837 society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > freedom of action or from restraint > [adjective] > in action, conduct, or habit freec1300 unbridledc1374 riotous?1456 liberala1500 unrestrained1531 libertine1593 relaxed1623 long-waisted1647 self-abandoning1817 laissez-aller1818 self-abandoned1833 uninhibited1880 un-Victorian1908 leggo1943 zizzy1966 loose1968 a1500 in T. Wright Songs & Carols (1847) 88 (MED) Women be trew as tyrtyll on tre, Not liberall in langag, but ever in secrete. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. QQvii^v And where there is a quicke wyt and a lyberall tong, there is moche speche. 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 93 A ruffian..Who hath indeede most like a liberall villaine, Confest the vile encounters they haue had. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. i. 167 Is he not a most prophane and liberall Counsellour? View more context for this quotation a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Captaine ii. ii, in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Gg3^v/2 And give allowance to your liberall jests Upon his person. 1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon iii. ix. 469 I shall not..attempt to pass so liberal a judgment upon a person I am, for so many respects, oblig'd to honour. 1689 A. Wood Life & Times 31 Aug. (1894) III. 309 Mr. Henry Dodwell,..liberal in his discourse at London, so much that a gent. threatened to bring him into danger. 1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 79. ⁋4 The Old Devil at Temple-Bar,..where Ben. Johnson and his Sons used to make their liberal Meetings. 1730 J. Thomson Trag. Sophonisba v. ii. 60 Friendship for once Must, tho' thou blushest, wear a liberal tongue. 1837 Lit. Gaz. 24 June 404/3 This lady..had been very liberal in her castigation of Mr. Barney Parsons. 1874 T. B. Aldrich Prudence Palfrey xv. 246 In the South his free, liberal ways would be thought nothing of; but here they seem strange, to say the least. b. Of passage or access: freely permitted, unobstructed. ΘΚΠ society > authority > lack of subjection > permission > [adjective] > permitted or allowed > freely permitted welcomea1400 liberal1530 1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII c. 14 His lyberall and free habytations resortes and passages to and fro the vniuersall places of this realme. 1532 Act 23 Hen. VIII c. 18 Ships should haue their liberall and direct passage in the mids of the streames of the said riuer of Ouse and water of Humber. 1628 H. Reynolds tr. T. Tasso Aminta v. i. sig. K Shee gaue her sorrowes A liberall passage through her earnest cryes. 1706 J. Harvey Præsagium Medicum 163 A liberal Passage for the Air, so necessary to moderate the Voice, is altogether obstructed. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxviii. 69 He in a closed field gave scope of liberal entry. 1908 Public Libraries June 199/1 The locked case and closed book room..has given way to a more liberal access to books. 1965 W. H. Auden About House 59 Each Is born with the right Of liberal passage To Dame Philology's Realm. 2000 A. Gambe Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship iv. 126 The once liberal passage for the Chinese to the Nanyang was reversed. c. Broadly construed or interpreted; not strictly literal; loose. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > [adjective] > exact, accurate > not liberala1637 widish1845 the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > translation > [adjective] > free libertine1656 free1728 liberal1778 a1637 H. Calthrop Rep. Cases London (1655) 7 This Charter..shall have a liberall construction, and not be streined unto a speciall intent as a patent of charge shall be. 1778 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Wks. (1859) I. 146 I have added Latin, or liberal English translations. 1792 A. Hamilton Let. 26 May in Papers (1966) XI. 443 A disposition on my part towards a liberal construction of the powers of the National Government. 1804 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. III. 455 The learned Commentator..put a much more liberal construction on the dictum in the Year Book. 1865 Q. Rev. 117 467 When they met this statement in Scripture they gave it the benefit of a liberal interpretation. 1930 Mod. Lang. Notes 45 394 There is an interesting parallel..in Erasmus's Praise of Folly, which I give below in a not too liberal translation. 1968 U.S. Rep. (Supreme Court) 389 367 The Amendment deserves..a liberal construction in order to protect against warrantless searches of buildings. 2003 A. Stanford Asperger Syndrome & Long-term Relationships (2005) ii. 32 Some diagnosticians have a more liberal interpretation of the diagnosis and cast a wider net. 4. a. Free from bias, prejudice, or bigotry; open-minded, tolerant; governing or governed by relaxed principles or rules; (Politics) favouring social reform and a degree of state intervention in matters of economics and social justice; left-wing.See note at sense B. 4b; not to be confused with the political use at sense A. 5a. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > absence of prejudice > [adjective] unpossesseda1586 affectionless1595 respectless1598 unprejudicating1602 spacious1609 unprejudicate1609 unprejudicated1609 undifferencing?1624 unprepossessed1629 imprejudicate1640 unprejudiced1641 unprejudicial1641 unpreoccupated1641 unsuperstitious1652 moderate1654 unforestalled1657 unengaged1659 equipondious1661 uncaptivated1678 unbiased1686 unbigoted1711 Whiggish1715 open-minded1748 progressive1780 liberal1781 prejudiceless1830 broad1832 great-eyed1850 synoptic1852 undogmatic1857 undogmatical1863 superstitionless1879 race-blind1900 personless1932 verlig1968 society > morality > rightness or justice > [adjective] > fair or equitable > specifically of persons evenlylOE liberal1781 1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxx. 142 A Grecian philosopher, who visited Constantinople soon after the death of Theodosius, published his liberal opinions concerning the duties of kings. 1803 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 9 444 A liberal investigation of the curative power of topical cold to arthritic inflammation. 1819 W. T. W. Tone Ess. improving National Forces 67 How must it excite the indignation of a liberal mind, to behold the rights and privileges of more than one hundred thousand of the bravest..subjects in the world,..trampled upon, by an itinerant state-quack. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 467 The resentment which Innocent felt towards France, disposed him to take a mild and liberal view of the affairs of England. 1889 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 180 There are thousands upon thousands of playgoers..who are too liberal and well balanced to fear contamination from seeing a drama acted. 1919 T. E. Lawrence Let. 27 Sept. (1938) 293 So long as we are the more liberal (‘left’ in the Parliamentary sense) we call the tune. 1940 T. Wolfe & E. C. Aswell You can't go Home Again iii. xxiii. 350 She liked..to know worth-while people with liberal minds. 1950 Billboard 9 Sept. 5/1 The commies know they [sc. liberal organizations] are good, and that they support liberal causes, and so the Commies are trying their best to take over many of these. 1969 C. Davidson in A. Cockburn & R. Blackburn Student Power 342 Female students are permitted to determine how strict or ‘liberal’ their dorm hours might be. 1981 G. Swift Shuttlecock vii. 24 We walk up and down the corridors (the hospital is run on liberal lines and is quite tolerant about this). 1995 Denver Post 5 Nov. e3/4 It's time we get serious about..protecting the culture of our nation from liberal socialists and multiculturalists. 2007 Guardian (Nexis) 18 June 35 The editor of Cif points out that the Guardian is so liberal it allows itself to be criticised in its own space. 2008 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 July a15/2 If the ‘too liberal’ label sticks, Mr. Obama won't win. b. Theology (originally U.S.). Regarding many traditional beliefs as dispensable, invalidated by modern thought, or liable to change; open to the reception of new ideas or proposals of reform.In early use chiefly with reference to Unitarianism or Universalism. ΘΚΠ society > faith > sect > Judaism > [adjective] > reform liberal1807 reformed1844 society > faith > aspects of faith > free thought > [adjective] free-thinking1691 liberalist1824 liberalistic1836 liberal1846 1807 Panoplist Feb. 427/2 If, therefore, one of these liberal Christians shall explain away the whole faith of the church of God concerning the new birth [etc.]. 1828 (title) Which society shall you join, liberal or orthodox? 1846 O. W. Holmes Rhymed Lesson 308 Thine eyes behold A cheerful Christian from the liberal fold. 1886 W. P. Roberts Liberalism in Relig. 56 I maintain that Liberal Protestantism, Liberal Christianity, is not anti-dogmatic, is not anti-theological. 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism vi. v. 253 Modernist liberal-catholic vicars asked him to preach. 1965 Listener 16 Sept. 414/2 The divide between the conservative evangelical tradition and liberal theology. 1968 B. M. G. Reardon (title) Liberal Protestantism. 1990 W. Sheed Ess. in Disguise ii. ix. 105 Wills clearly has it in for the liberal Catholics, and seems to accuse them of baring and ruining the choirs. c. Judaism. Of or designating any form of Judaism which reinterprets Jewish tradition in the light of contemporary ideas and values; spec. (usually with capital initial) of or designating a British movement founded by C. G. Montefiore in 1902, being more radical than Reform Judaism. ΚΠ 1845 Christian Remembrancer July 239 Judaism appears from this pamphlet to be divided into liberal and illiberal. This is the production of a liberal Jew. 1869 Catholic World Nov. 202/1 An orthodox Jew sent an essay and a liberal Jew spoke. 1900 Jewish Q. Rev. 12 618 These liberal Jews have no organization. 1903 C. G. Montefiore (title) Liberal Judaism. 1965 Sunday Times 5 Feb. 5/3 A plan for a national conference of non-orthodox synagogues, Reform (progressive) and Liberal. 1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Apr. 424/4 Judaism is divided into Orthodox, Conservative and Reform varieties following the American terminology, and not into the British Orthodox, Reform and Liberal camps. 2002 T. M. Endelman Jews of Brit. vi. 248 The Orthodox blamed Reform and Liberal Jews, for their secularism, lack of standards, and ignorance of tradition. 5. Politics. a. Supporting or advocating individual rights, civil liberties, and political and social reform tending towards individual freedom or democracy with little state intervention.See also neoliberal adj. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > left > liberal liberal1790 liberal1814 liberalistic1836 pinko-liberal1926 bourgeois-liberal1936 1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. to Henry VII I. ii. 65 Alfred took care to temper these rigors by other institutions favourable to the freedom and security of the citizens; and nothing could be more popular and liberal than his plan for the administration of justice.] 1790 Eng. Chron. 2 Feb. The progress of the Mal François, or of liberal and rational politics, is dreaded by the Aristocracy. 1801 H. M. Williams Sketches Manners French Republic I. xi. 113 The extinction of every vestige of freedom, and of every liberal idea with which they are associated. 1842 R. Cobden Speech in J. Morley Life R. Cobden (1882) x. 34/2 I believe the right hon. Baronet [Peel] to be as liberal as the noble Lord [J. Russell]. 1875 E. C. Stedman Victorian Poets (1887) vii. 256 Various poems are of a democratic, liberal stripe, inspired by the struggle then commencing over Europe. 1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. 512/2 The dominant liberal ideas were freedom and a certain vague equalitarianism. 1960 Guardian 6 Oct. 10/4 Britain, as a liberal state, engaged in working out the logic of decolonisation. 1975 Govt. & Opposition 10 277 The mobilizational capacity is higher than in a liberal pluralist society. 2006 B. Hilton Mad, Bad, & Dangerous People? viii. 559 There was continuous strife in the Iberian peninsula, ostensibly between royal absolutists and liberal constitutionalists. b. Frequently with capital initial. Designating any of various political parties advocating individual rights and freedoms; of, belonging to, or characteristic of such a party, esp. (in various countries) the Liberal Party or (in Britain) the Liberal Democrats.Recorded earliest in liberal party (see Liberal Party n. at Compounds 2).See note at sense B. 3b. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > left > liberal liberal1790 liberal1814 liberalistic1836 pinko-liberal1926 bourgeois-liberal1936 1780 C. Lofft Argument on Party & Faction 41 You have the liberal party of integrity and honest independence to chuse, opposed to servility and corruption.] 1814 Caledonian Mercury 26 May General Lacy..has been placed at the head of the troops which the liberal party [in Spain] has collected to support its cause. 1828 Newcastle Courant 31 May Those deep and unprincipled intrigues which have recently distinguished the liberal faction. 1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. ii. 57 Harold meant to stand on the Liberal side. 1881 M. E. Herbert Edith 190 The Liberal Government had outlived its popularity. 1943 Times 27 Sept. 5/6 Two of the lost Liberal seats were won by the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. 1974 P. Blazey & A. Campbell Polit. Dice Men 47 When he got to Canberra, with all the other new Liberal members, he found he was treated with sympathy. 2004 Jewish Chron. 26 Mar. 10/2 Remarks to a pro-Palestinian lobby—which led to the MP's sacking from the Liberal front-bench. c. Economics. Favouring or characterized by unrestricted trade. Cf. free trade n. 1. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > importing and exporting > [adjective] > favouring free trade free-trading1785 liberal1816 1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. iv. v. 125 Were all nations to follow the liberal system of free exportation and free importation, the different states into which a great continent was divided would so far resemble the different provinces of a great empire.] 1816 Monthly Rev. May 53 The author is a great friend to those liberal principles of trade which propose to allow all nations to barter with all, without any duties, prohibitions, bounties, or restrictions. 1863 Brit. Amer. Mag. 520 The latter had decidedly the advantage over the former in the more liberal system of trade established by the government. 1909 R. L. Bridgman Passing of Tariff iv. 63 Men of liberal views can contemplate the outcome with deep satisfaction, foreseeing the end of the tariff of obstruction. 1964 Guardian 1 Apr. 14/3 France is still a capital importer and closed to foreign issues, and the ‘planification’ of credits is also an obstacle to a more liberal capital market. 1982 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 8 At heart, Thatcherism is a liberal economic reaction to the collectivism and corporatism of the past 40 years. 2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) ii. 57 Law is seen as an encumbrance to liberal free marketeers, save in the ways it protects commercial transactions. B. n. †1. A generous or bountiful person. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1611 Bible (King James) Isa. xxxii. 8 The liberall deuiseth liberall things. View more context for this quotation 1692 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §105 Let them find by experience, that the most liberal has always most plenty. 1806 C. Buck Theol. Dict. (ed. 2) 167 There the liberal may learn to devise liberal things. †2. Criminals' slang. A prominent member of a criminal gang. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > a criminal or law-breaker > gangster > specific liberal1638 liberty boy1733 gang leader1775 Camorrist1863 mafioso1875 gangster1900 amalaita1908 dada1917 paesanoa1930 skolly1934 Mafiaist1948 oyabun1948 yakuza1964 mafiosa1965 goombah1968 rascal1978 yardie1986 new jack1988 lynch man2004 1638 W. Melvin tr. C. Garcia Sonne of Rogue 246 Over all these a kinde of Theeves bearesway [sic], called among us Liberalls,..and these are the wittyest of all the company, and those who as it were indued with the best wit and invention. 3. Politics. Chiefly with capital initial. A person advocating political and social reform tending towards individual freedom or democracy; a member or supporter of the Liberal Party. See sense A. 5. a. In continental Europe and elsewhere.In early use with reference to anti-monarchist parties in Spain and France. The term is later used with reference to various political parties, usually occupying a position somewhere between socialism and conservatism. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > specific parties or groups in Europe generally > members of Caesarean1528 liberal1814 Christian Democrat1840 possibilist1886 1814 Leeds Mercury 8 Oct. He has nominated a commission to try the Members of the Cortes, called in derision, the Liberals, (for liberal sentiments are a crime in his eyes) now in prison. 1817 Times 12 Apr. 2/3 We are afraid that the Liberals, as they are sometimes called in Paris, are liberal to all but their own master. 1819 Examiner 26 Sept. 612/1 The elections for the third series have given for their result 37 Liberals, among whom is one regicide. 1832 Liberal (St. Thomas, Upper Canada) 20 Sept. 3/4 We shall first notice the slanderous imputations cast upon the Liberals, that they are a discontented set of men, ever on the watch to find occasion for complaint and clamour. 1854 N.Y. Tribune 22 Apr. 5/5 The ‘Liberals’ of Maine have called a ‘State Democratic Mass Convention’ at Portland. 1885 C. Lowe Life Bismarck I. 469 This was evidently the calculation of the Liberals in the Reichstag, when..they began a series of attempts to cobble at the Constitution. 1918 H. V. Evatt Liberalism Austral. x. 66 The Sydney press claimed that its own free traders were the Liberals. 1924 B. Vanzetti Let. 15 Sept. in N. Sacco & B. Vanzetti Lett. (1997) ii. i. 128 The ‘opposition’ is composed of the Liberals, Democratic, Demo-socialist..and the Popular (Catholic party). 1959 J. Rothschild Communist Party of Bulgaria ii. 38 Of the 175 members of the prorogued Sobranie, 150 had been Liberals and 6 belonged to Malinov's Democratic Party. 2002 T. L. Hill Canad. Politics 194/1 Beryl Gaffney, a Liberal, was the one and only MP for Nepean. b. In Britain. In later use also: a member of the Liberal Democrats.In early use the noun was applied chiefly by opponents to the advanced section of the Whig party, apparently with the intention of suggesting that the principles of those politicians were similar to those of the ‘revolutionary’ parties on the Continent (see sense B. 3a). As, however, the English adjective already had positive connotations, the advocates of reform were not reluctant to use the term to describe themselves. When the old party distinctions were obliterated by the coalition of the advanced Whigs with the Radicals and of the moderate Whigs with the Tories, the new names Liberal and Conservative took the place of Whig and Tory as the usual names for the two chief political parties (until, in the 1920s, the Labour Party became the chief alternative to the Conservatives). By the end of the 19th cent. the focus of the Liberal Party had changed from advocating individual rights and freedom from state interference to favouring state intervention in matters of economics and social justice. Thus members of the Liberal Party and (later) the Liberal Democrats could also be described as liberals in sense B. 4b. [The Spanish, French, and Italian nouns are also sometimes found in English in the first half of the 19th cent. with reference to British or U.S. people (especially politicians), with the intention of associating these people with continental European radicalism. Compare: 1816 R. Southey in Q. Rev. 15 69 These are the personages for whose sake the continuance of the Alien Bill has been opposed by the British Liberales. 1817 Niles' Reg. 15 Nov. 192/1 Mr. Lloyd's resignation of his seat in congress, has given rise to a new collision at Boston. Mr. Mason..was nominated by a federal caucus as his successor; but Mr. M. being thought too much of a liberale was set aside by another caucus. 1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 19 Nov. (1939) 279 Canning, Huskisson, and a mitigated party of Liberaux. 1834 M. Edgeworth Helen III. iii. 66 That one born and bred such an ultra exclusive..should be obliged after her marriage..to open her doors and turn ultra liberale, or an universal suffragist. ] ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [noun] > a Liberal Liberal Party1814 liberal1819 Lib1885 1819 Times 20 Sept. 3/2 The popular frenzy, or, in the language of the Liberals, synonimous with Radicals, the popular zeal could not be restrained. 1822 (title) The Liberal. Verse and prose from the South. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. II. xi. 77 Newer and more thorough-going Whigs..were known by the name of Radicals, and have since been called..Liberals. 1865 J. S. Mill in Morning Star 6 July A Liberal is he who looks forward for his principles of government; a Tory looks backward. 1924 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 18 338 Facing the divided, confused Conservatives..were enthusiastic, unified Liberals and an excellently disciplined Labor party. 1962 Guardian 10 July 18/7 The Liberals alone have a consistently pro-European tradition. 1973 Times 6 June 18/2 Graham Tope, a Liberal, swept to victory..on a platform of community politics. 2005 A. Russell & E. Fieldhouse Neither Left nor Right? v. 109 The Liberals have been the clear second choice party of both Conservative and Labour voters since 1979. 4. a. Chiefly U.S. A person who holds liberal views in theology. See sense A. 4b. ΚΠ 1818 S. L. Knapp Extracts Jrnl. Trav. N. Amer. ii. 15 The main point in dispute between them..is whether according to their book there are three Gods or one God... The Calvinists maintain the former, the Liberals the latter opinion. 1887 Beacon (Boston, Mass.) 8 Jan. In Boston a minister is called a liberal when he rejects the Andover creed, and, perhaps, the Apostles' Creed. 1938 Jrnl. Bible & Relig. 6 86 The form critics claim correctly that the gospels are colored by primitive Christian beliefs and practices (as liberals have long admitted). 1954 J. D. Smart Teaching Ministry of Church vi. 109 By some liberals it was even suggested that one might serve Jesus Christ more effectively through some other channel than the Church. 2002 R. Balmer & L. F. Winner Protestantism in Amer. i. 25 Whereas evangelicals want to approach the Bible literally..liberals are more likely to see biblical writings as time-bound and open to allegorical interpretations. b. A liberal-minded person; a person holding liberal left-wing views. See sense A. 4a.See also limousine liberal n. at limousine n. b.Often used by the political right (esp. in the United States) almost synonymously with communist or socialist (cf. quot. 1998 and pinko-liberal n.). ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > socialism > [adjective] > other types of socialism societarian1822 Saint-Simonian1830 Saint-Simonite1831 democratic socialist1848 social democratic1848 social democratic1849 social democratic1850 internationalist1871 social democrat1874 state socialist1882 utopian socialist1884 scientific socialist1887 state-capitalistic1896 revisionist1903 state capitalist1904 liberal1955 1859 Brit. Jrnl. Homœopathy 17 302 All the ‘liberals’ who were in office were ejected. 1881 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 951/2 ‘Liberals’ are the only professed and open defenders of dirt, as it is represented by the men who are interested in pushing impure literature through the mails. 1920 Standard Feb. 179/2 Due to the efforts of certain American liberals, the Secretary of War announced what was ostensibly a broad-minded policy concerning this problem [sc. conscientious objectors]. 1955 D. Viklund tr. Tingsten Probl. S. Afr. x. 116 A Communist in South Africa is often, according to the general usage of the word, a liberal. 1979 N.Y. Mag. 9 Apr. 114/3 There were no bleeding-heart liberals pleading the case for school-dropout punks, junkies, muggers, and rapists. 1988 H. Mantel Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1989) 229 I had some talks with Yasmin about Islam. She was quite relaxed about it. I thought she was a liberal. 1998 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Feb. 166/2 Albert Gore Sr..was a proud southern liberal at a time when the l-word was not the worst thing you could call a Democratic politician. Compounds C1. a. Parasynthetic. See also liberal-minded adj. liberal-hearted adj. and n. ΚΠ 1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxv. 167 The liberall harted man is by the opinion of the prodigall miserable. 1667 E. Waterhouse Short Narr. Fire London 152 That Magnanimous and liberal hearted Benefactor to London. 1758 J. Massie Plan Establishm. Charity-houses 58 The well-educated or liberal-hearted among them, may not from thence receive any hard Prejudices concerning the Poor. 1851 J. H. Ross What I saw in N.-Y. 52 He..seems to take more notice of the mischievous boys than of the liberal-hearted. 1924 W. A. White Woodrow Wilson xiv. 301 The mistakes of a liberal-hearted President. 2003 N. Peter in D. E. James Sons & Daughters of Los xi. 213 A liberal-hearted openness that allows for radical inquiry into many diverse religious texts. b. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘liberal and ——’. liberal-anarchic adj. ΘΚΠ society > authority > lack of power > [adjective] > tending to or involving anarchy > without supreme government anarchical1646 anarchic1656 anarchal1786 liberal-anarchic1933 1933 Encycl. Social Sci. XI. 434 A straight line development from a rigidly stratified occupational organization bound by tradition toward a liberal-anarchic freedom of occupational choice. 1964 New Society 13 Feb. 17/2 The progressive schools have been liberal-anarchic, the product of free enterprise in unorthodox educational ideas. 2003 V. Tismaneanu Stalinism for all Seasons v. 148 All politburo members were instructed to oppose revisionism and ‘liberal-anarchic’ tendencies. liberal-bourgeois adj. ΚΠ 1910 Mother Earth July 172 The latter thus ceased to be an inspirational force and became a mere liberal-bourgeois political party. 1951 A. Koestler Age of Longing vi. 103 Where did you pick up this idea out of the liberal-bourgeois philosophy of law? 2001 E. Sagan Citizens & Cannibals iv. 74 Why, we may still ask, did the liberal-bourgeois elite members of society let the revolution get out of their hands? liberal-cultural adj. ΚΠ 1934 Peabody Jrnl. Educ. 11 159 A large part of the third-year's work is made up of the liberal-cultural and technical courses. 1953 A. K. C. Ottaway Educ. & Society v. 88 The supporter of the pure liberal-cultural tradition. 1998 L. M. Hogeland Feminism & its Fictions iv. 103 The difference between Sanborn's liberal-cultural feminism and MacKinnon's radical feminism. liberal-empiricist adj. ΚΠ 1949 Mind 58 254 More than anyone, except perhaps Bertrand Russell, he [sc. L. T. Hobhouse] may be regarded as the inheritor of the liberal-empiricist mantle of John Stuart Mill. 2004 F. Kerr in R. Abbey Charles Taylor iii. 89 Taylor wants to distance himself from the liberal-empiricist tradition. liberal-humanist adj. ΚΠ 1936 C. Day Lewis Revol. in Writing in Time to Dance 81 But for the last 100 years this background has been disintegrating, till now nothing remains of it but a few faded tatters stitched together with every variety of pseudo-scientific, mystico-emotional, liberal-humanist material. 1957 N. Frye Anat. Crit. 6 It would be easy to compile a long list of such determinisms in criticism, all of them, whether Marxist..liberal-humanist..or existentialist, substituting a critical attitude for criticism. 2004 L. Woodhead Introd. Christianity 407 The liberal-humanist tradition proved congruent with broader currents of political and social liberalism in modern culture. liberal-scientific adj. ΚΠ 1890 J. Macpherson tr. J. H. Kurtz Church Hist. III. 236 A reactionary movement, partly of a mystical-irenical, evangelical-revival and liberal-scientific, and partly of a radical-liberalistic, character. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Jan. 26/4 The obvious charge which can be brought against this picture of a suppressed liberal-scientific element is the undeniable fact that it never showed any signs of formulating a practical alternative to current political or ethical machinery. 2006 M. Kingwell Nearest Thing to Heaven iv. 101 The liberal-scientific worldview characteristic of modernity: success-oriented, licentious, potentially decadent. C2. liberal anarchism n. any of several forms of anarchism that emphasize the individual in preference to external determinants such as groups, traditions, ideologies, etc. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > principles of or attachment to types of government > [noun] > anarchism anarchy1609 anarchism1656 Maratism1793 antarchism1845 liberal anarchism1929 1929 L. A. Warren Mod. Spanish Lit. II. vii. 562 His main idea is liberal anarchism, an idea suited to the individualism of the Iberian race. 1964 New Society 13 Feb. 17/2 Liberal-anarchism will no longer do. 1996 D. Pepper Mod. Environmentalism (1997) i. 33 Liberal anarchism takes an anti-state, consumer movement perspective. Liberal-Labour adj. British Politics (in early use) of or relating to members of the labour movement acting in association with the Liberal Party; (later) of or relating to both the Labour Party and the Liberal Party (or the Liberal Democrats), esp. with reference to any of various temporary alliances between them; cf. Lib-Lab adj., Labour-Liberal adj. at labour n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [adjective] > Liberal and Labour Liberal-Labour1881 Lib-Lab1903 1881 Glasgow Herald 8 Nov. 5/5 The selection of the candidate will be decided on at a meeting of the Liberal Labour Sections this evening. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Oct. 7/2 Replying to inquiries made by the Liberal Labour candidate at Liverpool the following letter has been received. 1909 Daily Chron. 14 July 1/7 Mr. Hancock, the Liberal-Labour candidate for Mid-Derbyshire. 1961 I. Jennings Party Politics II. vi. 267 He was not wholly averse from a Liberal-Labour coalition. 1993 Guardian 6 May 21/4 If Martin Linton..is trying to find a Liberal-Labour pact, Devizes constituency is the wrong place to look. Liberal-Labourism n. British Politics (now historical) Liberal-Labour politics. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > socialism > [noun] > other types of socialism Saint-Simonism1830 democratic socialism1848 social democracy1848 scientific socialism1849 utopian socialism1849 state socialism1851 societarianism1852 internationalism1871 state capitalism?1886 nationalism1889 Liberal-Labourism1905 champagne socialism1906 maximalism1909 guild-socialism1912 Popular Frontism1938 Saint-Simonianism1974 1905 Amalgamated Engineers Monthly Jrnl. Sept. 25 Unless Liberals refuse to play the monopolist game..then Liberalism—and with it Liberal-Labourism—will be swept into merited oblivion. 1920 M. Beer Hist. Brit. Socialism II. iv. xvi. 315 In 1898 Gladstone died, and with him one of the main pillars of Liberal Labourism disappeared from British politics. 2006 D. Rubinstein Labour Party & Brit. Society i. 23 Liberal-Labourism, it seemed clear, would never be more than an insignificant tail to the great Liberal dog. Liberal Party n. (also with lower-case initial(s)) any of various political parties advocating individual rights and freedoms, as: (a) British one of the two major political parties of the late 19th and early 20th cent.; (b) Canadian one of the two most prominent parties, formed in the mid 19th cent. and generally advocating a centrist position; (c) Australian a centre-right party founded in 1944, one of the two major political parties.In the United Kingdom, the term Liberal Party gradually displaced Whig Party over the course of the mid 19th cent., finally superseding it in the 1860s under the leadership of William Ewart Gladstone. In 1988 this party merged with the Social Democratic Party; cf. Liberal Democrat n. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > other national politics > [noun] > specific parties in Australia Liberal Party1814 ALP1922 U.A.P.1936 society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [noun] > a Liberal Liberal Party1814 liberal1819 Lib1885 society > authority > rule or government > politics > other national politics > [noun] > Canadian politics > specific party Liberal Party1814 Socred1955 Social Credit Party1958 Parti Québécois1968 1814Liberal party [see sense A. 5b]. 1814 Caledonian Mercury 30 May The liberal party (this is the name of the party which forms the majority in the Cortes), and the servile party..are on the point of coming to blows. 1846 Spectator 26 Sept. 913/1 A certain Whig section of the Liberal party in London. 1875 Daily Free Press (Winnipeg) 17 Mar. [The resolutions] are favourably received by a large majority—perhaps five-sixths—of the Liberal party of the Dominion. 1885 W. E. Gladstone in B. Holland Life Dk. Devonshire (1911) II. xxi. 91 The question of the House of Lords, of the Church, or both, will probably split the Liberal Party. 1921 B. de Siebert tr. G. Schreiner Entente Diplomacy & World iii. 466 The objections of the Liberal Party to Russian reactionariness was certainly but a faint imitation of what the French radicals felt. 1966 H. Mayer Austral. Politics 394 For Liberal party leaders, on the other hand, the Senate can be an embarrassment. 1975 Weekend Mag. (Montreal) 29 Nov. 3 Springate is at the very bottom of the Liberal Party in Quebec rather than near the top. 2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Apr. 4/4 One of the many thought-provoking features of this tour d'horizon is how close the Liberal Party has come to outright death during the time surveyed. liberal studies n. studies directed to a general broadening of the mind and not restricted to the requirements of technical or professional training; spec. (in later use) a broadly based interdisciplinary course in the arts and humanities offered at a college or university. ΚΠ 1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xix. xii. 141 Andronicus afterwards well knowne for his liberall studies and excellencie in Poetrie, was brought into the judgement place. 1740 ‘Sophia’ Woman's Superior Excellence over Man 71 With a lively penetrating genius he possesses solidity of judgement, both which the advantage of liberal studies has greatly improved. 1846 Times 16 Dec. 3/5 Those liberal studies which in this country enter into the education of every gentleman. 1915 Forum Feb. 216 So it appears that there is a chance for liberal studies even in a most severely utilitarian programme. 1965 Listener 11 Mar. 387/2 (advt.) The major part of the work will be teaching Sociology,..but appropriately qualified candidates will be expected to teach Liberal studies. 2006 Insider's Guide to Colleges 2007 (Yale Daily News) 680 The main requirement for freshmen is LS1, an introductory liberal studies course covering a wide range of disciplines. liberal-talking adj. †(a) that talks excessively or unrestrainedly (obsolete); (b) expressing liberal opinions; advocating liberalism. ΚΠ 1612 N. Field Woman a Weather-cocke iii. i. sig. F1^v Next to that, the fame, Of your neglect, and liberall talking tongue, Which bred my honour an eternall wrong. a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) I. i. 2 One would have thought that the above mentioned liberal-talking inhabitants of Hollingford would have, at least, admitted the possibility of their voting for the Hely-Harrison. 2000 S. Jackson Lines of Activity (2001) ii. 78 Nor did it always seem to change the habitual behavior of liberal-talking reformers toward their laboring brothers. Liberal Unionism n. now historical the principles or policy of the Liberal Unionists. ΚΠ 1886 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 19 June 5/3 In his opinion this cry of Liberal Unionism and Liberal Unionists was simply an organised hypocrisy. 1901 Scotsman 12 Mar. 6/2 Liberal Unionism is still a vital force in British politics. 2005 I. McLean & A. McMillan State of Union (2006) v. 116 Unlike England and Scotland, Wales was infertile ground for Liberal Unionism. Liberal Unionist n. a supporter of both liberal and unionist policies; spec. any of a group of British Liberal MPs who left the party in 1886 as a result of its support for Irish Home Rule (cf. Dissentient Liberals at dissentient adj. b) (now historical). ΚΠ 1858 Belfast News-let. 2 July (Second ed.) The Daily News says the new Ministry belongs to the party called the Liberal Unionists. 1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 30 Aug. 3/1 One of the Liberal Unionists has pealed off: that is the most interesting thing about the division list on Mr. Parnell's amendment. 2004 G. R. Searle New Eng.? (2005) v. 170 The unbeatable combination of Conservatives and Liberal Unionists had grown out of a common determination to resist Home Rule. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.n.c1384
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