liberationn.
/ˌlɪbəˈreɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌlɪbəˈreɪʃ(ə)n/ 1.
a. The action of liberating (esp. from confinement or servitude); the condition of being liberated; release. Also: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > liberation > [noun]
liberation?a1475
remission?a1475
freeing1492
redeliverya1513
solutiona1513
enfranchising1528
assertion1552
franchising1552
franchisement1562
affranchisement1608
enfranchisementa1616
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1879) VII. 153 (MED) I..have lyvede so that y myȝhte transfude my patrimony to youre utilite, and have despysede the ioye of the worlde for youre liberacion.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (BL Add. 9066) (1879) 426 The contricion that he had in his Ende was the signe and token of his liberacion.
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. Liberation, a deliuerance.
1685 W. Alexander Medulla Historiæ Scoticæ 165 Queen Mary, being by the Queen of Englands order conveyed to Carlisle. The Duke of Norfolk..became mighty forward to procure her liberation.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. iii. 544 The future liberation of the public revenue, they leave to the care of posterity. View more context for this quotation
1782 T. Pownall Treat. Study Antiq. 155 This mode of analysing requires perfect liberation from all prejudged system.
1875 J. B. Lightfoot St. Paul's Epist. Colossians & Philemon 257/1 A liberation from the dominion of the flesh.
1879 R. T. Smith St. Basil x. 127 The separation of soul and body is liberation from all evil.
1924 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 8 327 I do not find that André made another attempt to secure his liberation from the service of Le Sieur Gershon Levy.
1967 Guardian 31 July 2 The general effects of cannabis seem to be the liberation of certain inhibitions, accompanied by mild hallucinations.
2003 P. Robinson How Ronald Reagan changed my Life vii. 175 The benefit I recall most vividly of all came as a complete surprise: a sense of liberation from myself.
b. Freedom from restrictive or discriminatory social conventions and attitudes.animal, gay, women's liberation, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > integration or egalitarianism
levellinga1641
levelism1659
Levelry1661
non-discrimination1793
liberation1798
diversity1859
equalitarianisma1866
equality of opportunity1891
egalitarianism1932
integration1940
1798 Analyt. Rev. July 35 The consequences from the liberation of women reasonably to be expected, are, such as seldom fail to ensue, when any individuals, or societies, or classes of mankind are restored to their natural rights.
1888 Rep. Internat. Council Women 441 You can obtain the complete liberation of women only by working for the liberation of humanity.
1911 A. G. Chater tr. E. Key Love & Marriage vi. 203 Real liberation for women is thus impossible; the only thing possible is a new division of the burdens.
1971 Black Scholar Jan. 58/1 Those in the struggle have to deal with black separatists because they stand today as a potent obstacle to full black liberation.
1976 Listener 8 Jan. 4/2 Sexual repression and totalitarianism, on one side, and sexual liberation and revolution, on the other.
1984 A. Maupin Babycakes ix. 40 It was no longer a question of butch vs. femme, liberation vs. oppression.
2001 Genre May 37/1 Gay activists in this country and around the world were using the pink triangle as a symbol of activism and liberation.
2.
a. The action of freeing a region or its people from an oppressor or enemy force; the result of this. In later use frequently ironic.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > liberation > [noun] > from enemy occupation
liberation1532
1532 Bp. Clark in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. I. 306 For the liberation off Italye.
1627 P. Hay Advt. Subj. Scotl. 43 It behooved him to practise the same Policie, for Liberation of his Kingdomes, from Forraigne Powers.
1794 Belfast Politics 89 The French having obtained the possession of Brussels..and thereby having virtually compleated the liberation of the Belgic people.
1823 R. Batty Campaign in Western Pyrenees iii. 45 The gallant Sir Thomas Graham had returned to England to take charge of an expedition destined to assist in the liberation of Holland.
1890 C. L. Norton Polit. Americanisms 43 As generally understood in America, the ‘Fenian Brotherhood’ is a league pledged to the liberation of Ireland.
1945 Sun (Baltimore) 28 Sept. 11/2 Liberation is only four months old.
1978 P. Howard Weasel Words xxv. 102 Totalitarian states make assassination sound better by calling it liquidation, and aggression by calling it liberation.
1996 D. Benton Food for Thought iii. 32 The Nazis imposed a transport embargo in October 1944 that lasted until liberation in May 1945.
2004 Foreign Policy July 52/1 If the analogy between the United States' ‘liberation’ of the Philippines and of Iraq holds true, it will not be to the credit of the Bush administration.
b. colloquial. Stealing, misappropriation; an instance of this. Cf. liberate v. 2b.Recorded earliest in attributive use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > embezzlement or misappropriation > [noun]
misnimming?c1225
embezzlement1548
malversationc1550
falsity1581
misapplication1607
interverting1614
peculate1617
peculation1658
abstracting1669
plunderage1700
interversiona1754
conveyancing1754
misappropriation1794
abstraction1823
defalcation1832
malappropriation1848
teeming and lading1859
boodlery1886
bobol1907
chop-chop1966
liberation1966
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > embezzlement or misappropriation > [adjective] > embezzled or misappropriated
embezzled1603
liberation1966
1966 Punch 5 Jan. 14/2 Each member of the crew would apply for his equipment to be ‘written off’, and for replacements to be issued. And each member of the crew would become the proud owner of the liberation loot.
1975 Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, Calif.) 13 July b1/3 He..supervised the ‘liberation’ of any supplies that might prove useful.
1992 M. J. Childs Labour's Apprentices (1995) v. 110 In areas where the countryside was close at hand, boys had other avenues for the liberation of goods.
2003 M. J. Durant & S. Hartov In Company of Heroes (2004) vi. 144 Their missions were hostage rescues, snatch-and-grabs of bad guys, and even ‘liberations’ of enemy equipment.
3. Chemistry and Physics. The release of a substance (esp. a gas), energy, etc., as a result of a chemical reaction or physical change; an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1790 R. Kerr tr. A. Lavoisier Elements Chem. i. xvi. 154 Each particle of potash, at the instant of its formation, or at least of its liberation, is in contact with a particle of carbonic acid.
1806 W. Henry Epitome Chem. (ed. 4) i. v. 52 Those gases that require, for their liberation, a red heat.
1858 T. Graham Elem. Chem. (ed. 2) II. i. 304 In ozonized air, paper impregnated with a solution of iodide of potassium immediately becomes brown from the liberation of iodine.
1907 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 923 The serum..has brought about a local disintegration of the gonococci and a liberation of endotoxins.
1931 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 132 81 These very localised liberations of energy must disturb..the arrangement of molecules in the outer regions of the solid lattice.
2002 R. Best & G. de Valence Design & Constr. vi. 78 Each stage of the production, distribution and use of energy that is based on carbon..results in the liberation of greenhouse gases.
Compounds
C1.
liberation movement n.
ΚΠ
1843 Northern Star 16 Dec. 5/2 (headline) The Oastler liberation movement.
1860 Hull Packet & E. Riding Times 19 Oct. 5/2 What, if the Emperor of France has arrived at the conclusion that the liberation movement in Italy has gone far enough?
1973 Listener 20 Dec. 841/1 The Arabs..are to give financial and diplomatic support to the African liberation movements.
2002 N.Y. Times Mag. 10 Nov. 58 The recent civil rights past was prologue, as one liberation movement followed on the heels of another.
C2.
Liberation Society n. the Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control, a Nonconformist organization dedicated to the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England.The organization was founded by Edward Miall in 1844 as the Anti-State Church Association; it was renamed the Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control in 1853.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British political associations > [noun] > Liberation Society
Liberation Society1853
1853 Manch. Examiner & Times 12 Nov. 5/1 The hope that the evils of Church and State connection will be unsparingly exposed, and that aid will thus be given efficiently to the object contemplated by ‘the Liberation Society’.
1886 Q. Rev. 162 8 The Liberation Society had a balance on its Legacy Account of 10,334l. 15s.
1956 Times 9 Mar. 6/7 Mr. W. T. Williams, M.P., has become president of the Liberation Society.
2001 B. Whitfield Extension of Franchise 235 The Liberation Society championed the cause of nonconformists and campaigned for the abolition of tithes and church rates.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam n. (also Liberation Tigers) a paramilitary group formed in 1976 and claiming an independent Tamil state in north-eastern Sri Lanka; abbreviated LTTE; cf. Tamil Tiger n. at Tamil n. and adj. Additions.
ΚΠ
1978 Ceylon Daily News 19 May 1/1 Proscribing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other similar organisations.
1980 Guide Indian Periodical Lit., 1978 15 749/2 Emergence of Tamil ‘Liberation Tigers’.
2003 Gulf News (Nexis) 16 Mar. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) yesterday confirmed their participation in the next round of peace talks in Japan ending speculation over the issue.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.?a1475