free house

American

noun

British.

a tavern that, having no affiliation or contract with a particular brewery, serves several brands of beer, ale, etc.

free house British

noun

a public house not bound to sell only one brewer's products

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of free house

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

free house

They say being a free house pub has been helpful, as they are in control of what they do.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025

He lives above the free house with his wife and four kids and is happy.

From Washington Post ● May 2, 2023

One resident tried to take advantage of the crisis and scheme a way into a free house by buying up vacant land and trying to claim that a home had moved onto it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2023

And you write that your "free" house had all these unexpected and expensive issues, including the roof having problems.

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2021

Her own industry supplied her little wants; and she was protected, in a free house and kail-yard, by Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, the princely and humane laird of Closeburn.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023