> as lemmas

eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xiii. 292 Seo ær hire þeowa hondum þyder gelæded wæs, heo þa freo on hire fota gongum [L. libero pedum incessu] bliðe ham hweorfende wæs.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 623 He [sc. Noah] and hise wif wenten ut fre.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 13079 (MED) Þe king þam lete haf fre entre [sc. to the prison].

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 152 Þe necke schal neuere have his free meuynge.

1463 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 22 Fre owth goyng and in comyng.

?1504 W. Atkinson tr. Thomas à Kempis Ful Treat. Imytacyon Cryste (Pynson) iii. xxiii. sig. ki^v I maye nat haue fre accesse to the: ne haue thy swete enbrasynge.

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccxxix. f. cxxvi^v Their message was desyring hym to..gyue free passage to the pylgrimes of god.

1580 A. Munday Zelauto i. 14 Open windowes, that the ayre, free entraunce in may haue.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. ii. 77 We shall haue the freer [1602 fairer] woing at M^r Pages. View more context for this quotation

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. v. 199 Whilst each Bishop in his respective Diocesse, Priest in his Parish, were freer than formerly in execution of their Office.

1713 G. Berkeley in Guardian 7 May 2/1 [A] Library that I have free Access to.

1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. vi. 217 Her dress, loosened for the purpose of freer respiration.

1828 Ld. Grenville Sinking Fund p. viii Without the free examination of previously received opinion, no branch of human knowledge can ever be advanced.

1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. xvii. 188 They have free admission of the light of Heaven.

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 112 The various passions are allowed to have free play.

1915 Amer. Econ. Rev. 5 652 Organization from the time of Adam Smith to the present has been thought to be an obstructor of free competition.

1953 Western Union Tech. Rev. Apr. 52/2 The outgoing chadless tape tends to engage the entering tape and interfere with its free downward movement.

1991 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 21 Nov. a19/2 The EC is on the verge of opening its borders and allowing free movement of labour, so that a Greek, for instance, could settle in France without hindrance.

2002 O. Figes Natasha's Dance (2003) vi. iii. 462 In place of such free expressivity, Meyerhold insisted on the actors' rhythmic regimentation.