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 Free-fishery, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Freeholder, subs. (venery).—I. A prostitute's lover or fancyman. Cf., Free-fishery, and for synonyms, see Joseph.

2. (old).—A man whose wife insists on accompanying him to a public house.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Free-lance, subs. (common).—An habitual adulteress.

c 1889. (Quoted from Spectator in 'Slang, Jargon, and Cant'). Sooner than be out of the fashion they will tolerate what should be most galling and shaming to them—the thought that by these they are put down among the free-lances.

Also said of a journalist attached to no particular paper.

Freeman, subs., (venery).—A married woman's lover.

Freeman of bucks, subs. phr. (old).—A cuckold. [In allusion to the horn.] Grose.

To freeman, or to make a freeman of, verb. phr. (schoolboys').—To spit on the penis of a new comer. Also To Free-mason.

Freeman's Quay. To drink, or lush, at freeman's quay, verb. phr. (old).—To drink at another's expense. [Freeman's Quay was a celebrated wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the beer that was given to porters, carmen, and others going there on business.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Freeze, subs. (colloquial).—1. The act or state of freezing; a frost.

2. (old).—Hard cider.—Grose.

Verb. (American).—To long for intensely; e.g., 'to freeze to go back,' said of the home-sick; 'to freeze for meat.'

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West (1887), p. 129. Threats of vengeance on every Redskin they met were loud and deep; and the wild war songs round their nightly camp-fires, and grotesque scalp-dances, borrowed from the Indians, proved to the initiated that they were, one and all, half-froze for hair.'

2. (thieves').—Hence, to appropriate; to steal; 'to stick to.'

3. (old).—To adulterate or balderdash (q.v.) wine with freeze (q.v. sense 2).—Grose.

To freeze to (or on to), verb phr. (American).—To take a strong fancy to; to cling to; to, keep fast hold of; and (of persons) to button-hole or shadow.

1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 287, col. 1. If there was one institution which the Anglo-Indian froze to more than another, it was his sit-down supper and—its consequences.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 March. The competence of a juror was judged by his ability to shake ready-formed opinions and freeze on to new ones.

To Freeze Out, verb. phr. (American).—To compel to withdraw from society by cold and contemptuous treatment; from business by competition or opposition; from the market by depressing prices or rates of exchange.

Freezer, subs. (common).—1. A tailless Eton jacket; cf., Bum-*perisher. For synonyms, see Monkey-jacket.