freeman

== English == === Etymology === From Old English frēomann, equivalent to free +‎ -man and paralleled by similar constructions in other Germanic languages. Doublet of preman. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈfɹiː.mən/, /ˈfɹiːˌmæn/ === Noun === freeman (plural freemen) A free person, particularly: (usually historical) A person who is not a serf or slave. (historical) A burgher with full freedom of a city, as opposed to nobles, outsiders, bondsmen, and others. A person who has received an honorary freedom of a city. (usually as two words) A person who is a citizen of a free country, as opposed to a subject of a tyranny or totalitarian dictatorship. 1836, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., “Poetry: A Metrical Essay”, republished in The Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, 1862, OCLC 5091562, pages 7–8: There breathes no being but has some pretence / To that fine instinct called poetic sense; […] / The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand / The vote that shakes the turrets of the land. (Australia, historical) A person who immigrated to Australia freely, as opposed to those transported as convicts, or such a transported convict who has regained his freedom. (US and Canada, historical) An independent fur trapper. ==== Synonyms ==== (member in full standing of a medieval town): citizen, burgher, burgess ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “a free person”): slave, bondsman, serf ==== Hyponyms ==== (one who has become free): freedman ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Anagrams === enframe