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Liberties

 - 4 dictionary results

lib⋅er⋅ty

  [lib-er-tee]
Use Liberties in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ties.
1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.
2. freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.
3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.
5. permission granted to a sailor, esp. in the navy, to go ashore.
6. freedom or right to frequent or use a place: The visitors were given the liberty of the city.
7. unwarranted or impertinent freedom in action or speech, or a form or instance of it: to take liberties.
8. a female figure personifying freedom from despotism.
—Idiom
9. at liberty,
a. free from captivity or restraint.
b. unemployed; out of work.
c. free to do or be as specified: You are at liberty to leave at any time during the meeting.
Origin:
1325–75; ME liberte < MF < L lībertās, equiv. to līber free + -tās -ty 2

Synonyms:
4. liberation. See freedom. 6. franchise, permission, license, privilege, immunity.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Liberties
lib·er·ty   (lĭb'ər-tē)   
n.   pl. lib·er·ties

    1. The condition of being free from restriction or control.

    2. The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.

    3. The condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor. See Synonyms at freedom.

    4. A breach or overstepping of propriety or social convention. Often used in the plural.

    5. A statement, attitude, or action not warranted by conditions or actualities: a historical novel that takes liberties with chronology.

    6. An unwarranted risk; a chance: took foolish liberties on the ski slopes.

  2. Freedom from unjust or undue governmental control.

  3. A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.

    1. A breach or overstepping of propriety or social convention. Often used in the plural.

    2. A statement, attitude, or action not warranted by conditions or actualities: a historical novel that takes liberties with chronology.

    3. An unwarranted risk; a chance: took foolish liberties on the ski slopes.

  5. A period, usually short, during which a sailor is authorized to go ashore.


[Middle English liberte, from Old French, from Latin lībertās, from līber, free; see leudh- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

liberty 
c.1375, from O.Fr. liberté "freedom," from L. libertatem (nom. libertas) "freedom, condition of a freeman," from liber "free" (see liberal)
"The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right." [Learned Hand, 1944]
Nautical sense of "leave of absence" is from 1758. To take liberties "go beyond the bounds of propriety" is from 1625. Sense of "privileges" led to sense of "a person's private land" (1455), which yielded sense in 18c. England and America of "a district within a county but having its own justice of the peace," and also "a district adjacent to a city but under its municipal jurisdiction" (e.g. Northern Liberties of Philadelphia).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: lib·er·ty
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -ties
1 a : freedom from external (as governmental) restraint, compulsion, or interference in engaging in the pursuits or conduct of one's choice to the extent that they are lawful and not harmful to others b : enjoyment of the rights enjoyed by others in a society free of arbitrary or unreasonable limitation or interference
2 : freedom from physical restraint
3 : freedom from subjection to the will of another claiming ownership or services
4 : RIGHT liberty secured by the Fourteenth Amendment —W. Railroad LaFave and J. H. Israel>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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