n. [ Gael. craidhleag basket, creel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. An osier basket, such as anglers use. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Spinning) A bar or set of bars with skewers for holding paying-off bobbins, as in the roving machine, throstle, and mule. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Daubrée, a French mineralogist. ] (Min.) A sulphide of chromium observed in some meteoric irons. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a person who acts independently or without authorization of an organization or of his superiors. [ PJC ]

2. a person who pursues a profession independently, and not as the employee of an organization; -- used especially of writers or photographers who sell their work to organizations of which they are not employees. [ PJC ]

a. of or pertaining to a freelance{ 2 }; as, a freelance photographer. [ PJC ]

n. a freelance{ 2 }, n. [ PJC ]

n. Frailty. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ AS. freólice. ] In a free manner; without restraint or compulsion; abundantly; gratuitously. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat. Gen. ii. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

Freely ye have received, freely give. Matt. x. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Freely we serve
Because we freely love. Milton.

Syn. -- Independently; voluntarily; spontaneously; unconditionally; unobstructedly; willingly; readily; liberally; generously; bounteously; munificently; bountifully; abundantly; largely; copiously; plentifully; plenteously. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Creel. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To elect beforehand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Election beforehand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gael. righil. ] A lively dance of the Highlanders of Scotland; also, the music to the dance; -- often called Scotch reel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Virginia reel, the common name throughout the United States for the old English “country dance, ” or contradance (contredanse). Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hreól: cf. Icel. hræll a weaver's reed or sley. ] 1. A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound; as, a log reel, used by seamen; an angler's reel; a garden reel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays and hanks, -- for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches. McElrath. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Agric.) A device consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives. [ 1913 Webster ]

Reel oven, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a horizontal axis. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Reeled p. pr. & vb. n. Reeling. ] 1. To roll. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reel. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To wind upon a reel, as yarn or thread. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ Cf. Sw. ragla. See 2d Reel. ] 1. To incline, in walking, from one side to the other; to stagger. [ 1913 Webster ]

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. Ps. cvii. 27. [ 1913 Webster ]

He, with heavy fumes oppressed,
Reeled from the palace, and retired to rest. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy. [ 1913 Webster ]

In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or motion of reeling or staggering; as, a drunken reel. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To elect again; as, to reelect the former governor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Election a second time, or anew; as, the reelection of a former chief. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who reels. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The grasshopper warbler; -- so called from its note. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Eligible again; capable of reelection; as, reeligible to the same office. -- Re*el`i*gi*bil"i*ty n. [1913 Webster]

v. i. [ Cf. Stroll. ] To trail along; to saunter or be drawn along, carelessly, swaying in a kind of zigzag motion. [ Colloq. ] Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of trees. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]