free-range

[free-reynj]

adjective

(of livestock and domestic poultry) permitted to graze or forage for grain, etc., rather than being confined to a feedlot or a small enclosure: a free-range pig.
of, relating to, or produced by free-range animals: free-range eggs.
Informal. noting or relating to a style of child rearing in which parents allow their children to move about without constant adult supervision:free-range kids;free-range parents.

Origin of free-range

First recorded in 1910–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for free-range

Contemporary Examples of free-range

They have been raised like free-range chickens, and I am rather a Chinese chicken mom, which seems to make everyone happy!
Yiyun Li Takes on Evil in “Kinder Than Solitude”
Jane Ciabattari
February 27, 2014
Lenore Skenazy is a columnist at ParentDish.com and author of the book and blog, “ Free-Range Kids” (freerangekids.com).
Personal Trainers for Fat Pets
Lenore Skenazy
September 24, 2010
Free-range eggs are healthier—and provide more peace of mind—than factory-farmed eggs, right?
9 Reasons to Beware Eggs
The Daily Beast
August 20, 2010
As Foer writes in Eating Animals, “I could keep a flock of hens under my sink and call them free-range.”
9 Reasons to Beware Eggs
The Daily Beast
August 20, 2010
The next year he published his second book, resembling the first, called Free-Range Chickens.
Clueless for Boys
Liesl Schillinger
July 6, 2010

Historical Examples of free-range

The cattle business has been steadily on the chute—that is, the free-range business.
Cavanagh: Forest Ranger
Hamlin Garland

British Dictionary definitions for free-range

free-range

adjective

mainly British kept or produced in natural nonintensive conditionsfree-range hens; free-range eggs

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