liberate

Verb

liberate (third-person singular simple present liberates, present participle liberating, simple past liberated, past participle liberated or (obsolete) liberate)

1. (transitive) Often followed by from: to allow or cause (someone or something) to be free; to set free, to release.
   • Thus ſitting and ſurveying thus at eaſe / The globe and its concerns, I ſeem advanced / To ſome ſecure and more than mortal height, / That lib'rates and exempts me from them all.1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 142
   • [T]he prisoner being liberate in manner foresaid, it shall not be lawful to put or detain him in prison for the same crime, under the penalty of wrongous imprisonment, […]1828, James Watson, “Wrongous Imprisonment”, in A Practical View of the Statute Law of Scotland, from the Year MCCCCXXIV to the Close of the Session of Parliament MDCCCXXVII, […], volume II...
   1. (transitive) To free (someone or something) from discriminatory or oppressive attitudes, inhibition, or restraint.
      • You need to free your mind and liberate yourself from prejudice.
      • The moſt ſanguine projector, hovvever, could ſcarce flatter himſelf that any augmentation of this kind [in the form of certain taxes] vvould be ſuch as could give any reaſonable hopes either of liberating the public revenue altogether, or even of making ſuch progress tovvards that liberation in...1776 March 9, Adam Smith, “Of Publick Debts”, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. […], volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, book V...
   2. (transitive) To release (someone) from slavery; to manumit.
   3. (ironic, sometimes, transitive) To free (a place such as a country, or the residents thereof) from an occupying force, or from oppression such as unjust rule.
      • All your Italian friends must be starving now that we have "liberated" them.1944 December 4 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “[Letter dated 4 December 1944]”, in To a Young Actress: The Letters of Bernard Shaw to Molly Tompkins: The Correspondence between Bernard Shaw...
      • I announced that I was leaving with the two-and-a-half filled with with all of the automatic weapons from both camps plus all the plastique explosive, related equipment, and the pistols. They were to be used, I explained, in parts of France where the war was still going on, by Frenchmen who were...1986, Jack Hemingway, chapter 14, in Misadventures of a Fly Fisherman: My Life with and without Papa, Dallas, Tex.: Taylor Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 163
   4. (transitive) To cause (energy or a substance) to be released through a chemical reaction or physical decomposition.
      • Since the reaction liberates a large amount of chlorine gas, a powerful ventilation system is recommended.
2. (euphemistic, informal, transitive) To take (property belonging to someone else) by force or theft; to loot, to rob, to steal.
   • We didn’t need IDs. We just liberated these beers from the back of the shop.
   • All members of the Black Guard must be willing to perform acts of violence before they are nominated. I had proven myself, when I was required to liberate (steal) dynamite, steal cars for robberies, and to perform disciplinary action against party members.1969 June 18, Larry Clayton Powell, witness, “Testimony of Mrs. Jean Powell and Larry Clayton Powell”, in Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders: Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on...

Adjective

UK/ˈlɪbəɹet/US/ˈlɪbəˌɹet/

liberate (not comparable)

1. (Scotland, obsolete, transitive) Freed, released; free.
   • The Papiſts make advantage of the Ceremonies, and thereby confirme themſelves in Popery. […] If vve vvere liberate from the Ceremonies, then might vve doe more againſt the Papiſts, and they ſhould not inſult as they doe.1637, [George Gillespie], “That the Ceremonies are Inexpedient, because They Burden and Confirme the Papists”, in A Dispvte against the English-popish Ceremonies, Obtrvded vpon the Church of Scotland....
   • [I]n place of eſtablishing true Chriſtian Liberty, vvhich you ſeem here to aſſert, it is evident, that you go about plainly to ſet up, an abſolute Spiritual tyranny, over the Church of God, and ſo load it vvith the Ceremonies, and innovations, a bondage more ſevere then the old diſpenſation, from...1671, A Lover of Truth [pseudonym; Robert McWard], “The Third Dialogue Answered”, in The True Non-conformist: In Answere to the Modest and Free Conference betwixt a Conformist and a Non-conformist...

Noun

UK/lɪbəˈɹeɪti/US/ˌlɪbəˈɹeɪti/

liberate (plural liberates)

1. (UK, historical, transitive) A writ issued out of the Chancery to authorize the Exchequer to pay a debt, pension, etc., on behalf of the Crown.
   • Now (for an ende of Bailement) I will ſhewe you one forme of a Baile, and an other of a Liberate.1581, William Lambard[e], “What Things, some Twoo Iustices of the Peace may Doe out of the Sessions”, in Eirenarcha: Or Of the Office of the Iustices of Peace, […], London: […] Ra[lph] Newbery, and...
   • A Liberate is an originall writ iſſuing out of the Chancery, and is directed to ſome Officers that have of the Kings mony in his hands to pay over a penſion, debt, or duty. […] [I]t appeareth that there be two kinds of writs of Liberate, one dormant or currant and continuall, and another hac vice...1644, Edw[ard] Coke, “The Court of Exchequer”, in The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for W[illiam] Lee, and D[aniel] Pakeman, →OCLC, page 116
2. (UK, historical, transitive) A writ issued to a jailer to release a prisoner on bail.
   • VVith us they conſent in the Sufficiency of the Scriptures to ſalvation, in denying the Infallibility of the Church (much more of the Pope) the overplus of Merits, Service ununderſtood, Indulgencies, Liberaties out of Purgatorie, and the like.1639, Thomas Fuller, “The Uncurable Breach betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches, with the Occasion thereof”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of...
   • For the more remote counties it was found sufficient to show the Patent to the under-sheriffs, when they came up to London to the Michaelmas law-term, and to prepare for their use a liberate, covering the prisoners in each gaol.1919, William C[harles] Braithwaite, “The Second Conventicle Act, 1670–1673”, in The Second Period of Quakerism, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 84
3. (UK, US, historical, transitive) A writ issued to a sheriff to release property (goods or land) from their custody.
   • Goods extended before the Party becomes a Bankrupt, and delivered by the liberate after he becomes a Bankrupt, can't be ſold by the Commiſſioners, becauſe they being extended are quaſi in Cuſtodia Legis [as if in the custody of the law], ſo as the Conuzor can't diſpoſe of them; and tho' by the...1719, John Lilly, “Bankrupt”, in The Practical Register: Or, A General Abridgment of the Law, as It is Now Practised in the Several Courts of Chancery, King’s Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer, […]...
   • [G]oods taken upon an extent sued out upon a statute staple, before the bankruptcy of the debtor, through the goods are not delivered to the creditor by the sheriff upon a liberate until after the bankruptcy, may be held by the creditor against the commissioners under the bankruptcy.1845 June, Samuel Prentiss, District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Vermont, “In the Matter of Timothy Reed, a Bankrupt”, in The New York Legal Observer, volume III, New...