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.

There are free houses, which are not owned by a brewery or landlord stipulating where landlords buy their beer from.

From BBC

After all, she also got some lovely free house renovations out of the whole deal.

From Salon

"I'm a free house and therefore can choose what I want to sell."

From BBC

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

From Washington Post

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

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