Free State

Free State ¹

1. See Congo.

2. See Ireland.

3. A province and historical region of east-central South Africa. European settlement of the area began early in the 1800s and accelerated with an influx of Boer farmers after 1835. Great Britain annexed the region in 1848 and granted it independence as the Orange Free State in 1854. In 1900, during the Boer War, Great Britain once again annexed the territory, this time as the Orange River Colony. The renamed Orange Free State formed an independent government in 1907 and became a founding province of South Africa in 1910, being renamed again to Free State in 1995.

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Free State ²

n.

Any of the states in the Union in which slavery was illegal before the Civil War.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Free State

n

1. (Placename) a province of central South Africa; replaced the former province of Orange Free State in 1994: gold and uranium mining. Capital: Bloemfontein. Pop: 2 745 590 (2011 est). Area: 129 480 sq km (49 992 sq miles)

2. (Historical Terms) history US (before the Civil War) any state prohibiting slavery

3. (Placename) short for Irish Free State

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Free′ State`

n.

1. (before the Civil War) a state in which slavery was prohibited.

2. Irish Free State.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

free state

One where slaves have been freed or where slavery has not been permitted.

Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Free State - a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies Maryland, Old Line State, MD U.S.A., United States, United States of America, US, USA, America, the States, U.S. - North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776 Mid-Atlantic states - a region of the eastern United States comprising New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Maryland South - the region of the United States lying to the south of the Mason-Dixon line Aberdeen - a town in northeastern Maryland Annapolis, capital of Maryland - state capital of Maryland; site of the United States Naval Academy Baltimore - the largest city in Maryland; a major seaport and industrial center Fort George G. Meade, Fort George Gordon Meade, Fort Meade - a United States Army base in Maryland; headquarters of the National Security Agency Frederick - a town in northern Maryland to the west of Baltimore Hagerstown - a town in northern Maryland Chesapeake Bay - a large inlet of the North Atlantic between Virginia and Maryland; fed by Susquehanna River Potomac, Potomac River - a river in the east central United States; rises in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains and flows eastward, forming the boundary between Maryland and Virginia, to the Chesapeake Bay Susquehanna, Susquehanna River - a river in the northeastern United States that rises in New York and flows southward through Pennsylvania and Maryland into Chesapeake Bay
	2.	free state - any state prohibiting slavery prior to the American Civil War American state - one of the 50 states of the United States North, Union - the United States (especially the northern states during the American Civil War); "he has visited every state in the Union"; "Lee hoped to detach Maryland from the Union"; "the North's superior resources turned the scale" slave state - any of the southern states in which slavery was legal prior to the American Civil War
	3.	Free State - a province in central South Africa that was colonized by the Boers; named Free State in 1997 Orange Free State Republic of South Africa, South Africa - a republic at the southernmost part of Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1910; first European settlers were Dutch (known as Boers)

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