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Webster's New World College Dictionary » liberties
liberties
Variant of liberty
liberty
definition
lib·erty (lib′ər tē)
noun pl. liberties -·ties
- freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity, or any other form of arbitrary control
- the sum of rights and exemptions possessed in common by the people of a community, state, etc.
- a particular right, franchise, or exemption from compulsion
- a too free, too familiar, or impertinent action or attitude
- the limits within which a certain amount of freedom may be exercised to have the liberty of the third floor
- permission given to a sailor to go ashore; specif., in the U.S. Navy, permission given to an enlisted person to be absent from duty for a period ordinarily of 48 hours or less
- the period of time given
- Philos. freedom to choose; freedom from compulsion or constraint
Etymology: ME & OFr liberte < L libertas < liber, free: see liberal
liberty Idioms
at liberty
- not confined; free
- permitted (to do or say something); allowed
- not busy or in use
take liberties
- to be too familiar or impertinent in action or speech: often used with with
- to deal (with facts, data, etc.) in a distorting way
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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