Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LI'BEL-ANT, n.

One who libels; one who brings a libel or institutes a suit in an admiralty court. The counsel for the libelant, contended they had a right to read the instructions. – Cranch, Rep.

LI'BEL-ED, pp.

1. Defamed by a writing or picture made public.
2. Charged or declared against in an admiralty court.

LI'BEL-ER, n.

One who libels or defames by writing or pictures; a lampooner. It is ignorance of ourselves which makes us the libelers of others. – Buckminster.

LI'BEL-ING, ppr.

1. Defaming by a published writing or picture.
2. Exhibiting charges against in court.

LI'BEL-OUS, a.

Defamatory; containing that which exposes a person to public hatred, contempt and ridicule; as, a libelous pamphlet or picture.

LI'BER, n. [L.]

In botany, the inner bark of a plant.

LIB'ER-AL, a. [Fr. from L. liberalis, from liber, free. See Libel.]

1. Of a free heart; free to give or bestow; not close or contracted; munificent; bountiful; generous; giving largely; as, a liberal donor; the liberal founders of a college or hospital. It expresses less than profuse or extravagant.
2. Generous; ample; large; as, a liberal donation; a liberal allowance.
3. Not selfish, narrow or contracted; catholic; enlarged; embracing other interests than one's own; as, liberal sentiments or views; a liberal mind; liberal policy.
4. General; extensive; embracing literature and the sciences generally; as, a liberal education. This phrase is often but not necessarily synonymous with collegiate; as, a collegiate education.
5. Free; open; candid; as, a liberal communication of thoughts.
6. Large; profuse; as, a liberal discharge of matter by secretions or excretions.
7. Free; not literal or strict; as, a liberal construction of law.
8. Not mean; not low in birth or mind.
9. Licentious; free to excess. Shak. Liberal arts, as distinguished from mechanical arts, are such as depend more on the exertion of the mind than on the labor of the hands, and regard amusement, curiosity or intellectual improvement, rather than the necessity of subsistence, or manual skill. Such are grammar, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, &c. Liberal has of before the thing bestowed, and to before the person or object on which any thing is bestowed; as, to be is liberal of praise or censure; liberal to the poor.

LIB'ER-AL-HEART-ED, a.

Having a generous heart.

LIB'ER-AL-ISM, n.

Liberal principles. – M'Gacein.

LIB'ER-AL-IST, n.

One who is liberal or who favors liberal opinions; an infidel.

LIB-ER-AL'I-TY, n. [L. liberalitas; Fr. liberalité. See Liberal.]

1. Munificence; bounty. That liberality is but cast away, / Which makes us borrow what we can not pay. – Denham.
2. A particular act of generosity; a donation; a gratuity. In this sense, it has the plural number. A prudent man is not impoverished by his liberalities.
3. Largeness of mind; catholicism; that comprehensiveness of mind which includes other interests besides its own, duly estimates in its decisions the value or importance each. It is evidence of a noble mind to judge of men and things with liberality. Many treat the Gospel with indifference under the name of liberality. – J. M. Mason.
4. Candor; impartiality.

LIB'ER-AL-IZE, v.t.

To render liberal or catholic; to enlarge; to free from narrow views or prejudices; as, to liberalize the mind. – Burke. Walsh.

LIB'ER-AL-IZ-ED, pp.

Freed from narrow views and prejudices; made liberal.

LIB'ERALIZING, ppr.

Rendering liberal; divesting of narrow views and prejudices.

LIB'ER-AL-LY, adv.

1. Bountifully; freely; largely; with munificence. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. James i.
2. With generous and impartial regard to other interests than our own; with enlarged views; without selfishness or meanness; as, to think or judge liberally of men and their actions.
3. Freely; not strictly; not literally.

LIB'ER-AL-MIND-ED, a.

Having a liberal mind.

LIB'ER-AL-SOUL-ED, a.

Having a generous soul.

LIB'ER-ATE, v.t. [L. libero, from liber, free; Fr. liberer, It. liberare.]

1. To free; to release from restraint or bondage; to set at liberty; as, to liberate one from duress or imprisonment; to liberate the mind from the shackles of prejudice.
2. To manumit; as, to liberate a slave.

LIB'ER-A-TED, pp.

Freed; released from confinement, restraint or slavery; manumitted.

LIB'ER-A-TING, ppr.

Delivering from restraint or slavery.

LIB-ER-A'TION, n. [L. liberatio.]

The act of delivering from restraint, confinement or slavery.

LIB'ER-A-TOR, n.

One who liberates or delivers.

LIB-ER-TA'RI-AN, a. [L. liber, free; libertas, liberty.]

Pertaining to liberty, or to the doctrine of free will, as opposed to the doctrine of necessity. Remove from their mind libertarian prejudice. – Encyc.

LIB-ER-TA'RI-AN, n.

One who holds to free will.

LIB-ER-TA'RI-AN-ISM, n.

The principles or doctrines of libertarians.