1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue s.v., A saying of one who cannot get his wife with child.
Free, gratis,—for nothing, phr. (common).—A pleonastic vulgarism. Cf., On the dead.
To make free with both ends of the busk, verb. phr. (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. Cf., Both ends of the busk.
Free of the house, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Intimate; privileged to come and go at will.
Free of the bush, adj. phr. (venery).—On terms of extreme intimacy. See Bush.
[For the rest, the commonest sense of free is one of liberality: e.g., free of his foolishness = full of chaff; free-handed = lavish in giving; free-hearted = generously disposed; free of her favours = liberal of her person: free of his patter = full of talk.]
Free-and-Easy, subs. (common).—A social gathering where you smoke, drink, and sing; generally held at a public house.
1796. (In Bee’s Dict. of the Turf, published 1823, s.v.). Twenty seven years ago the cards of invitation to that (free-and-easy) at the ‘Pied Horse,’ in Moorfields, had the notable ‘N.B.—Fighting allowed.’
1810. Crabbe, The Borough, Letter 10. Clubs. Next is the club, where to their friends in town, Our country neighbours once a-month come down; We term it free-and-easy, and yet we Find it no easy matter to be free.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Free-and-easy Johns. A society which meets at the Hole in the Wall, Fleet Street, to tipple porter, and sing bawdry.