freelancen.adj.adv.
/ˈfriːlɑːns/, /ˈfriːlans/, U.S. /ˈfriˌlæns/ A. n.
1. historical. Esp. in the Middle Ages: a type of military adventurer, typically of knightly rank, who offered his services to states or individuals for payment, or with a view to plunder; a mercenary soldier; = free companion n. at free adj., n., and adv. Compounds 2.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by type of service > [noun] > mercenary
wagerc1420
knight wager1513
mercenary1523
lance-knight1530
suddart1542
hireling1547
adventurer1548
venturer1572
lansquenet1577
warmonger1590
mercenarian1598
passe-volant1617
provantman1659
soldier of fortune1661
privateer1676
routier1683
bravo1761
stipendiary1768
free companion1804
freelance1819
free-rider1821
freelancer1854
merchant of death1934
merc1967
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. iv. 98 I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances.
1848 Times 10 May 8/6 The spirit of the old Ritters, the Free-lances and mercenaries of the wars of Italy and the Empire, is by no means extinct.
1877 M. Oliphant Makers of Florence (ed. 2) iii. 77 Those rude German free-lances, ever ready to sell themselves to the highest bidder.
1922 C. V. Langlois in A. Tilley Medieval France ii. 150 Armies, friendly or hostile, or free lances, all equally organised for ‘loot’, everywhere marched and counter-marched.
1993 Speculum 68 598 Truly professional knights (free lances and household knights) might have no land.
2. figurative.
a. A politician or controversialist with no fixed affiliation to a particular party or viewpoint, who from time to time takes up particular causes in an apparently arbitrary or quixotic manner; (more generally) any person who follows the methods of no particular school; a maverick. Now rare.
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the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > [noun] > peculiarity of constitution > strongly marked individual character > person
individualist1826
freelance1854
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > [noun] > non-party positions > person
independent1808
indifferentist1817
freelance1854
straddle-bug1872
maverick1880
mugwump1884
1854 Sir J. Pakington in Hansard Commons 22 Dec. 879 There is some fitness and appropriateness in these Bills being pressed on by that portion of the Government to which I have referred—I think I may call that portion of the Government political ‘free lances’. In the course of the last four years they have been ready to enlist under any banner—to wear any uniform.
1864 Standard 16 Apr. They may be Free Lances in Parliament so long as the guerilla career suits them.
1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life II. 135 The band of literary free~lances that..made Fraser's Magazine a name of terror.
1888 A. Jessopp Coming of Friars v. 216 The Friars..were free lances with whom the bishops had little to do.
1912 C. H. Conrad Wright Hist. French Lit. iv. xi. 551 The abbé André Morellet..was a free lance of the Encyclopedists and a friend of Voltaire.
1939 O. D. Russell House of Mitsui ix. 184 Between the time of his resignation..and 1876 he had been something of a free lance in the business world.
1951 R. J. Dubos (title) Louis Pasteur, free lance of science.
b. The ‘weapon’ wielded by a controversialist or campaigning journalist. rare.A modification of the original metaphor, with lance denoting the weapon (lance n.1 1) rather than the person wielding it (lance n.1 4).
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1858 Wisconsin Chief 25 Aug. Ours are free lances; our press and our independence a species of property not transferable to any one man.
1882 J. Hatton Journalistic London v. 106 The name of Grenville-Murray..might be associated with clever work on many other English as well as French journals. The free lance par excellence of journalism was laid to rest..during..1881.
1996 Toronto Sun (Nexis) 17 Nov. c3 Listening to O'Rourke skewer all with his free lance,..I wished that more of us..reacted similarly.
3. A person who works as a freelancer (freelancer n.).
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [noun] > free-lance worker
freelance1899
freelancer1924
1899 E. W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman 217 It was no easy matter to keep your end up as a raw free lance of letters; for my part, I was afraid I wrote neither well enough nor ill enough for success.
1905 Atlanta Constit. 15 Oct. 8/2 A ‘free lance’ is an unsalaried writer, whether he be journalistic hack or another Victor Hugo.
1935 Motion Picture Nov. 52/2 It took her a year to discover that, as a free lance, she was a flop.
1960 Honey Aug. 6 She worked as a mannequin for three months with Mattli, and then became a freelance.
1986 E. E. Scharff Worldly Power viii. 133 He told Phillips that the Journal would welcome any stories that he felt like sending from Europe as a freelance.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 19 May a2/4 The writer, a freelance, acknowledges that in each case she knew of the connections but did not mention them to her editors.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
1. Of a person: working as a freelancer (see sense A. 3). Also: characteristic of a freelance; individualistic, independent.
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1891 Times 27 June 7/4 A sensational case..has given occasion to Señor Romero Robledo once more to air his free-lance principles and to provoke a debate in the Congress on the attitude of the Press.
1892 Times 1 Feb. 6/4 The controversy..was so fierce that he dropped the prefix of Reverend, and became, if possible, more of a free-lance preacher than before.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 7 Mar. 9/1 Someone who calls himself a free-lance journalist.
1927 A. M. Carr-Saunders & D. C. Jones Surv. Social Struct. Eng. & Wales 62 Free-lance professional men, doctors and barristers for instance.
1962 M. McLuhan Gutenberg Galaxy 74 Leopold Bloom..is a free-lance ad salesman.
2004 Eventing Oct. 52/3 She is a freelance instructor, has two pre-novice horses and competes in affiliated dressage.
2. Relating to, of the nature of, or designating work which is not done as part of one's permanent or long-term engagement by a single employer, but which constitutes an assignment for a particular employer, or may be offered to prospective employers or clients.
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society > occupation and work > [adjective] > performed by self-employed person
freelance1896
1896 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 11 Aug. Resigning in favor of her present specialty—free lance journalism.
1928 Times 30 Mar. 21/3 He had already begun to write free-lance articles for certain London newspapers.
1937 Life 12 Apr. 11/1 (caption) Mr. Fellig's free-lance business is good. He once made $84 in one day.
1985 G. Paley Later Same Day 133 Hundreds of thousands of words have been written, some freelance and some commissioned.
1991 Western Living Mar. 33/3 Now Gordon runs a freelance consulting business from his pleasant, Cape Cod-style house.
C. adv.
As a freelance (sense A. 3); on a freelance basis.
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society > occupation and work > [adverb] > on a freelance basis
freelance1927
1927 Los Angeles Times 24 July iii. 13/1 It is because of this that I work free lance.
1965 G. Gould Let. 30 Oct. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 85 I simply question whether as a journalist who turns up free-lance in innumerable minority quarterlies, he could not have dropped his Time-bomb elsewhere.
2006 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) (Nexis) 5 Feb. h7 Wendy..works freelance with talent agencies in Chicago.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
freelancev.
/ˈfriːlɑːns/, /ˈfriːlans/, U.S. /ˈfriˌlæns/ 1. intransitive. To act as a freelance; to do freelance work; to earn one's living as a freelance.
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society > occupation and work > working > [verb (intransitive)] > work in other specific ways or conditions
dead horse1640
grub1798
subcontract1827
chare1828
slut1829
to take up one's livery1839
hat1868
to work on tribute1869
freelance1904
work1920
nine-to-five1962
job-share1978
telework1983
1904 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 31 July 14/2 According to gossip among horsemen, Jockey Dominick will likely be free lancing here in a short time, as it is said he and Fred Cook have recently had a misunderstanding.
1909 Daily Chron. 7 Apr. 4/7 If the clergy were allowed to free-lance in each other's parishes.
1915 W. J. Locke Jaffery i He had a terrible time for a dozen years or so, taking pupils, acting, free-lancing in journalism.
1937 Times 30 Dec. 6/3 My conviction that one could do more for the general cause of good architecture from within that body [sc. the R.I.B.A.] than as a rebel, free-lancing outside it.
1955 L. Feather Encycl. Jazz i. 28 Mary Lou Williams, free-lancing along the Street.
1979 E. Koch Good Night Little Spy viii. 65 He was not attached to any one newspaper and freelanced for several of them.
2000 G. Marinovich & J. Silva Bang-Bang Club x. 109 Kevin approached various people for whom he had freelanced in the past.
2. intransitive. North American. Sport. Of a player: to improvise; (also) to disregard a coach's instructions.
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1962 Chicago Tribune 25 July f4/1 Too often, in pro basketball, the ball is just pitched in and the players free-lance from there.
1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 27 Nov. We were just freelancing on defence.
1986 J. Madden & D. Anderson One Knee equals Two Feet 120 I had the option to freelance, so I was an inside linebacker maybe twenty percent of the time.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 10 Mar. viii. 6/5 The Raptors were actually freelancing on defense rather than listening to..the..coach.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.adv.1819
v.1904