–adjective

1.	enjoying personal rights or liberty, as a person who is not in slavery: a land of free people.

2.	pertaining to or reserved for those who enjoy personal liberty: They were thankful to be living on free soil.

3.	existing under, characterized by, or possessing civil and political liberties that are, as a rule, constitutionally guaranteed by representative government: the free nations of the world.

4.	enjoying political autonomy, as a people or country not under foreign rule; independent.

5.	exempt from external authority, interference, restriction, etc., as a person or one's will, 94e thought, choice, action, etc.; independent; unrestricted.

6.	able to do something at will; at liberty: free to choose.

7.	clear of obstructions or obstacles, as a road or corridor: The highway is now free of fallen rock.

8.	not occupied or in use: I'll try to phone her again if the line is free.

9.	exempt or released from something specified that controls, restrains, burdens, etc. (usually fol. by from or of): free from worry; free of taxes.

10.	having immunity or being safe (usually fol. by from): free from danger.

11.	provided without, or not subject to, a charge or payment: free parking; a free sample.

12.	given without consideration of a return or reward: a free offer of legal advice.

13.	unimpeded, as motion or movement; easy, firm, or swift.

14.	not held fast; loose; unattached: to get one's arm free.

15.	not joined to or in contact with something else: The free end of the cantilever sagged.

16.	acting without self-restraint or reserve: to be too free with one's tongue.

17.	75f ready or generous in giving; liberal; lavish: to be free with one's advice.

18.	given readily or in profusion; unstinted.

19.	frank and open; unconstrained, unceremonious, or familiar.

20.	unrestrained by decency; loose or licentious: free behavior.

21.	not subject to special regulations, restrictions, duties, etc.: The ship was given free passage.

22.	of, pertaining to, or characterized by free enterprise: a free economy.

23.	that may be used by or is open to all: a free market.

24.	engaged in by all present; general: a free fight.

25.	not literal, as a translation, adaptation, or the like; loose.

26.	uncombined chemically: free oxygen.

27.	traveling without power; under no force except that of gravity or inertia: free flight.

28.	Phonetics. (of a vowel) situated in an open syllable (opposed to checked ).

29.	at liberty to enter and enjoy at will (usually fol. by of): to be free of a friend's house.

30.	not subject to rules, set forms, etc.: The young students had an hour of free play between classes.

31.	easily worked, as stone, land, etc.

32.	Mathematics. (of a vector) having specified magnitude and direction but no specified initial point. Compare bound 1 (def. 9).

33.	Also, large. Nautical. (of a wind) nearly on the quarter, so that a sailing vessel may sail free.

34.	not containing a specified substance (often used in combination): a sugar-free soft drink.

35.	(of a linguistic form) occurring as an independent construction, without necessary combination with other forms, as most words. Compare bound 1 (def. 11).

36.	without cost, payment, or charge.

–adverb

37.	in a free manner; freely.

38.	Nautical. away from the wind, so that a sailing vessel need not be close-hauled: running free.

–verb (used with object)

39.	to make free; set at liberty; release from bondage, imprisonment, or restraint.

40.	to exempt or deliver (usually fol. by from).

41.	to relieve or rid (usually fol. by of): to free oneself of responsibility.

42.	to disengage; clear (usually fol. by from or of).

—Verb phrase

43.	free up, a. to release, as from restrictions: Congress voted to free up funds for the new highway system. b. to disentangle: It took an hour to free up the traffic jam.

—Idioms

44.	for free, Informal. without charge: The tailor mended my jacket for free.

45.	free and clear, Law. without any encumbrance, as a lien or mortgage: They owned their house free and clear.

46.	free and easy, a. unrestrained; casual; informal. b. excessively or inappropriately casual; presumptuous.

47.	make free with, a. to use as one's own; help oneself to: If you make free with their liquor, you won't be invited again. b. to treat with too much familiarity; take liberties with.

48.	set free, to release; liberate; free: The prisoners were set free.

49.	with a free hand, generously; freely; openhandedly: He entertains visitors with a free hand.

–noun

1.	the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass; amount a thing weighs.

2.	Physics. the force that gravitation exerts upon a body, equal to the mass of the body times the local acceleration of gravity: commonly taken, in a region of constant gravitational acceleration, as a measure of mass.

3.	a system of units for expressing heaviness or mass: avoirdupois weight.

4.	a unit of heaviness or mass: The pound is a common weight in English-speaking countries.

5.	a body of determinate mass, as of metal, for using on a balance or scale in weighing objects, substances, etc.

6.	a specific quantity of a substance that is determined by weighing or that weighs a fixed amount: a half-ounce weight of gold dust.

7.	any heavy load, mass, or object: Put down that weight and rest your arms.

8.	an object used or useful solely because of its heaviness: the weights of a clock.

9.	a mental or moral burden, as of care, sorrow, or responsibility: Knowing you are safe takes a weight off my mind.

10.	importance, moment, consequence, or effective influence: an opinion of great weight.

11.	Statistics. a measure of the relative importance of an item in a statistical population.

12.	(of clothing, textiles, etc.) a. relative heaviness or thickness as related to warmth or to seasonal use (often used in combination): a winter-weight jacket. b. relative heaviness or thickness as related to use: a bolt of coat-weight woolen cloth.

13.	Printing. (of type) the degree of blackness or boldness.

14.	(esp. in boxing) a division or class to which a contestant belongs according to how much he weighs: two brothers who fight professionally in the same weight.

15.	the total amount the jockey, saddle, and leads must weigh on a racehorse during a race, according to the conditions of the race: Jacinto has a weight of 122 pounds in the seventh race.

16.	the stress or accent value given a sound, syllable, or word.

–verb (used with object)

17.	to add weight to; load with additional weight: to weight sacks before dumping them overboard.

18.	to load (fabrics, threads, etc.) with mineral 93b or other matter to increase the weight or bulk.

19.	to burden with or as if with weight (often fol. by down): Financial worries have weighted that family down for years.

20.	Statistics. to give a statistical weight to.

21.	to bias or slant toward a particular goal or direction; manipulate: The teacher weighted the test so students who had read both books would make the highest marks.

22.	to assign (a racehorse) a specific weight to carry in a race: The handicapper weighted Dapper Dan with 128 pounds.

—Idioms

23.	by weight, according to measurement of heaviness or mass: Rates are determined by weight.

24.	carry weight, to have importance or significance; influence: Her opinion is certain to carry weight.

25.	pull one's weight, to contribute one's rightful share of work to a project or job: We will finish in time if we each pull our weight. Also, pull one's own weight.

26.	throw one's weight around or about, to use one's power and influence, esp. beyond the bounds of propriety, to secure some personal gain.

–noun

1.	detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery. < 289 /td>

2.	something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

3.	an amount or number lost: The loss of life increased each day.

4.	the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had: the loss of old friends.

5.	death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

6.	the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.: to discover the loss of a document.

7.	a losing by defeat; failure to win: the loss of a bet.

8.	failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

9.	failure to preserve or maintain: loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

10.	destruction or ruin: the loss of a ship by fire.

11.	a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent: Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.

12.	Military. a. the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc. b. Often, losses. the number of soldiers so lost.

13.	Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.

14.	Electricity. a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.

—Idiom

15.	at a loss, a. at less than cost; at a financial loss. in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed: We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem. b.

–noun

1.	food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health: Milk is a wholesome article of diet.

2.	a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.

3.	such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight: No pie for me, I'm on a diet.

4.	the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group: The native diet consists of fish and fruit.

5.	food or feed habitually eaten or provided: The rabbits were fed a diet of carrots and lettuce.

6.	anything that is habitually provided or partaken of: Television has given us a steady diet of game shows and soap operas.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to regulate the food of, esp. in order to improve the physical condition.

8.

to feed.

–verb (used without object)

9.	to select or limit the food one eats to improve one's physical condition or to lose weight: I've dieted all month and lost only one pound.

10.	to eat or feed according to the requirements of a diet.

–adjective

11.	suitable for consumption with a weight-reduction diet; dietetic: diet soft drinks.