Also 5 freyte, freyght, 6–7 fraight, 6 frate. [prob. a. MDu. or MLG. vrecht, var. of vracht: see FRAUGHT sb. The word has passed from Du. or LG. into some of the Rom. langs.; F. fret hire of a ship (from 13th c.), Sp. flete, Pg. frete.]
1. Hire of a vessel for the transport of goods; the service of transporting goods (originally, by water; now extended, esp. in U.S., to land-transit); the sum of money paid for this. In early use also: Passage-money.
1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 194. My mastyr toke hym ffor his ffreyte to Caleys whan he went wyth the wollis, vj.li.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 283/2. Whome they receyued in to theyr Shippe gladly and sayd they wold brynge hym thyder without ony freyght or huyr.
1538. Starkey, England, II. i. 172. Specyally yf to that were joynyd a nother ordynance … wych ys, concernyng the frate of marchandyse.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong., Naulage, the fraight or fare payed for passage ouer the water.
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Arith. (1690), 19. Those who have the command of the Sea Trade may Work at easier Freight with more profit than others at greater.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 353. Having agreed to pay no Freight there, had fill’d up all between the Guns with Bales to secure the Men.
1764. Burn, Poor Laws, 180–1. That a better provision may be made for the relief of sailors in particular; let a small deduction be made from the freights of ships, and from seamens wages, to be collected by a society of honest men in every sea port.
1765. T. Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., I. ii. 257. They purchased a ship-load of masts, the freight whereof cost them sixteen hundred pounds sterling.
1854. Hawthorne, Eng. Note-bks. (1883), II. 123. The captains talk together about their voyages, and how they manage with their unruly mates and crews; and how freights are in America, and the prospects of business.
1861. Goschen, For. Exch., 18. The charge for freight acts with the same force as a charge for a commodity actually produced and exported.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., ix. (1876), 83. Conversely, since their monopoly has been rescinded, hardly a generation ago, the passage from the East to Europe has been so shortened, that a freight from thence to England is reduced to one-fourth, the time required to one-third, and the produce of India and China have been powerfully stimulated by the freedom of trade.
† b. To take freight: to take passage for oneself and goods. Obs.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. xvi. We all took freight with him.
2. The cargo or lading (of a ship); a ship-load. In U.S. by extension: Anything carried by sea or land (a general term for ‘goods’ in transit). Fast freight (U.S.): see FAST a. 11.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 229–30. We do you to vnderstonde and charge you precisely that the forsayd [merchants] wyth their shyp’s freight … ye suffer and let go passe.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. Beyng mynded … to take any freight or ladynge … into any of the saide shyppes.
1694. Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 3. When they have their full Fraight of Whales, they put up their great Flag as a sign thereof.
1789. Brand, Hist. Newcastle, II. 255. A. D. 1325, a vessel … trading to Newcastle upon Tyne with corn, and returning with a freight of sea-coals.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, 131. Do you know that vessel? You cannot be aware what freight it bears?
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xix. 196. They offered to exclude both clothes and food in favor of a full freight of these treasures.
b. transf. A load, burden.
1618. Chapman, Hesiod, i. 574.
| At thy purse’s height, | |
| And when it fights lowe; giue thy vse his freight. |
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 597.
| Want no Supply, but stand secure alone, | |
| Not trusting foreign Forces, but their own: | |
| Till with the ruddy Fraight the bending Branches grone. |
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, V. 84.
| I looked and looked, self-questioned what this freight | |
| Which the new-comer carried through the waste | |
| Could mean. |
1878. Huxley, Physiography, 73. These warm moist winds, striking the Cotteswold Hills, deposit their freight of moisture in showers of rain, much of which reaches the Thames basin.
c.fig.
a. 1631. Donne, in Select. (1840), 43. Keep up that holy cheerfulness, which Christ makes the ballast of a Christian, and his freight too, to give him a rich return into the heavenly Jerusalem.
1755. Young, Centaur, V. Wks. 1757, IV. 223. Every moment shall return, and lay its whole freight, nothing lost, its every whisper, every thought, before the Throne.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, I. 127.
| Ah! no!—an earthly freight she bears, | |
| Of joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. |
1872. Holland, Marb. Proph., 97.
| Old Daniel Gray was not a man who lifted | |
| On ready words his freight of gratitude, | |
| Nor was he called as one among the gifted, | |
| In the prayer-meetings of his neighborhood. |
† 3. A journey of a laden vessel. Obs.
1716. Church, Philip’s War (1865), I. 157. He made use of Canoo’s: But by that time they had made two fraights, and had got over the Captain, and about 15 or 16 of his Indians, the Wind sprung up with such violence that Canoo’s could no more pass.
4. U.S. Short for freight-train: a goods-train. By freight: by the usual means of transportation, as opposed to by express.
1881. Chicago Times, 18 June. A freight of thirty loaded cars … collided with the other train.
5. attrib. and Comb. (esp. U.S. in reference to the carriage of goods by railway), as freight car (= goods truck or van), carriage, engine, -man, route, shed, steamer, traffic, train (= goods train); also freight-handler, -handling. Also † freight-money, payment for conveyance of freight.
1856. Olmsted, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, 55. There were, in the train, two first-class passenger cars, and two *freight cars. The latter were occupied by about forty negroes, most of them belonging to traders, who were sending them to the cotton States to be sold.
1884. Pall Mall G., 25 Sept., 5/2. They will put up their rates on the *freight carriage eastward. Ibid. (1882), 12 July, 8/2. A riot has occurred [at Jersey city] between the *freight-handlers on strike and the Italian labourers.
1887. Bureau Statist. Labour (N.Y.), 327. There was also a great interruption of *freight-handling.
1855. Gen. Term Rep. Goods … should be sent forward by a carrier, or *freightman.
1755. Magens, Insurances, II. 189. All Insurances on expected Gain, Wagers, or such Inventions, future *Freight-Monies, Seamens Wages and Mens Lives are universally forbid, and declared of no Force.
1881. Chicago Times, 12 March. This has been the cheapest *freight route to New York. Ibid., 17 June. Between the gas-works and the *freight-sheds of the … railway.
1891. Pall Mall G., 3 Dec., 6/2. The St. John’s Board of Trade … thinks that the interest of the country would he better served by grants to *freight steamers. Ibid. (1885), 10 Sept., 6/1. Goods traffic—called in America *‘freight’ traffic.
1872. Lanman, Japanese in America, 199. *Freight-trains frequently number not less than one hundred cars.
