free and easy

free and easy idiom
  1. Casual, relaxed, as in His style of writing is free and easy. In the 1930s and 1940s this phrase gained currency as part of a slogan for a brand of cigarettes, which were said to be “free and easy” to inhale. [c. 1700]
  2. Careless, sloppy, morally lax, as in This administration was free and easy with the taxpayers' money, or These girls hate to be considered free and easy. [First half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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