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own person, be one's

own person, be one's idiom

Also, be one's own man or woman. Be independent, be responsible for oneself. For example, We can't tell Jerry what to do—he's his own person. Chaucer used this idiom in Troilus and Cressida: “I am my own woman, well at ease.” [Late 1300s]

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.