v.; 5 afranchise, 5–6 affranchyse. [f. Fr. afranchiss- lengthened stem of afranch-ir (now affranchir) f. à to + franchir to free; f. franc free: see FRANK.] To free; to set at liberty from servitude; also from an obligation.
1475. Caxton, Jason, C b. I shall affranchyse yow of your vowe.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 110. He afranchised legmon, and made him fre that afore was bonde and thralle.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXV. xxiii. 908 h. Antiochus should be sent for to affranchise Greece.
1725. Cotes, trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist., I. III. i. 76. It cannot be said, that France … has been made Free, or affranchised, since she was free in her first original.
1863. Landor, in Atl. Monthly (1866), June, 702/2. Every slave, after fifteen years, should be affranchised.
