The Collaborative International Dictionary
Liberal \Lib"er*al\ (l[i^]b"[~e]r*al), a. [F. lib['e]ral, L. liberalis, from liber free; perh. akin to libet, lubet, it pleases, E. lief. Cf. Deliver.]
Free by birth; hence, befitting a freeman or gentleman; refined; noble; independent; free; not servile or mean; as, a liberal ancestry; a liberal spirit; liberal arts or studies. `` Liberal education.''
--Macaulay. `` A liberal tongue.''
--Shak.-
Bestowing in a large and noble way, as a freeman; generous; bounteous; open-handed; as, a liberal giver. `` Liberal of praise.''
--Bacon.Infinitely good, and of his good As liberal and free as infinite.
--Milton. -
Bestowed in a large way; hence, more than sufficient; abundant; bountiful; ample; profuse; as, a liberal gift; a liberal discharge of matter or of water.
His wealth doth warrant a liberal dower.
--Shak. Not strict or rigorous; not confined or restricted to the literal sense; free; as, a liberal translation of a classic, or a liberal construction of law or of language.
Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish; enlarged in spirit; catholic.
Free to excess; regardless of law or moral restraint; licentious. `` Most like a liberal villain.''
--Shak.-
Not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the constitution or administration of government; having tendency toward democratic or republican, as distinguished from monarchical or aristocratic, forms; as, liberal thinkers; liberal Christians; the Liberal party.
I confess I see nothing liberal in this `` order of thoughts,'' as Hobbes elsewhere expresses it.
--Hazlitt.Note: Liberal has of, sometimes with, before the thing bestowed, in before a word signifying action, and to before a person or object on which anything is bestowed; as, to be liberal of praise or censure; liberal with money; liberal in giving; liberal to the poor.
The liberal arts. See under Art.
Liberal education, education that enlarges and disciplines the mind and makes it master of its own powers, irrespective of the particular business or profession one may follow.
Syn: Generous; bountiful; munificent; beneficent; ample; large; profuse; free.
Usage: Liberal, Generous. Liberal is freeborn, and generous is highborn. The former is opposed to the ordinary feelings of a servile state, and implies largeness of spirit in giving, judging, acting, etc. The latter expresses that nobleness of soul which is peculiarly appropriate to those of high rank, -- a spirit that goes out of self, and finds its enjoyment in consulting the feelings and happiness of others. Generosity is measured by the extent of the sacrifices it makes; liberality, by the warmth of feeling which it manifests.
Art \Art\ ([aum]rt), n. [F. art, L. ars, artis, orig., skill in joining or fitting; prob. akin to E. arm, aristocrat, article.]
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The employment of means to accomplish some desired end; the adaptation of things in the natural world to the uses of life; the application of knowledge or power to practical purposes.
Blest with each grace of nature and of art.
--Pope. -
A system of rules serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions; a system of principles and rules for attaining a desired end; method of doing well some special work; -- often contradistinguished from science or speculative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigation.
Science is systematized knowledge . . . Art is knowledge made efficient by skill.
--J. F. Genung. -
The systematic application of knowledge or skill in effecting a desired result. Also, an occupation or business requiring such knowledge or skill.
The fishermen can't employ their art with so much success in so troubled a sea.
--Addison. The application of skill to the production of the beautiful by imitation or design, or an occupation in which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature.
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pl. Those branches of learning which are taught in the academical course of colleges; as, master of arts.
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts.
--Pope.Four years spent in the arts (as they are called in colleges) is, perhaps, laying too laborious a foundation.
--Goldsmith. -
Learning; study; applied knowledge, science, or letters.
So vast is art, so narrow human wit.
--Pope. Skill, dexterity, or the power of performing certain actions, acquired by experience, study, or observation; knack; as, a man has the art of managing his business to advantage.
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Skillful plan; device.
They employed every art to soothe . . . the discontented warriors.
--Macaulay. -
Cunning; artifice; craft.
Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
--Shak.Animals practice art when opposed to their superiors in strength.
--Crabb. -
The black art; magic. [Obs.]
--Shak.Art and part (Scots Law), share or concern by aiding and abetting a criminal in the perpetration of a crime, whether by advice or by assistance in the execution; complicity.
Note: The arts are divided into various classes.
The useful arts,
The mechanical arts, or
The industrial arts are those in which the hands and body are more concerned than the mind; as in making clothes and utensils. These are called trades.
The fine arts are those which have primarily to do with imagination and taste, and are applied to the production of what is beautiful. They include poetry, music, painting, engraving, sculpture, and architecture; but the term is often confined to painting, sculpture, and architecture.
The liberal arts (artes liberales, the higher arts, which, among the Romans, only freemen were permitted to pursue) were, in the Middle Ages, these seven branches of learning, -- grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In modern times the liberal arts include the sciences, philosophy, history, etc., which compose the course of academical or collegiate education. Hence, degrees in the arts; master and bachelor of arts.
In America, literature and the elegant arts must grow up side by side with the coarser plants of daily necessity.
--Irving.Syn: Science; literature; aptitude; readiness; skill; dexterity; adroitness; contrivance; profession; business; trade; calling; cunning; artifice; duplicity. See Science.
Usage examples of "the liberal arts".
Some indulgence was granted to the profession of the liberal arts: but every other branch of commercial industry was affected by the severity of the law.
To you, they aren't able to be fully functional without the liberal arts courses.
Such was the popular favor which they enjoyed, that, in a time of scarcity, when all strangers were banished from the city, the merit of contributing to the public pleasures exempted them from a law, which was strictly executed against the professors of the liberal arts.
His affectation of civic interest did not diminish, and he lost no opportunities for helping such leaders as Stephen Hopkins, Joseph Brown, and Benjamin West in their efforts to raise the cultural tone of the town, which was then much below the level of Newport in its patronage of the liberal arts.
His meaning probably is, that the value and usefulness of the faculty of elocution ought not to be denied, in opposition to the doctrine of Epicurus, who declared all the liberal arts and sciences to be useless and mischievous.
His office was a small but cozy one in the turret at the northwest corner of the Liberal Arts building.
And he had purposely concentrated in a field that promised lucrative employment, not the liberal arts concentration that he would have preferred.
Determined to give his children a proper training in the liberal arts, he insisted that his daughters should be educated alongside his three sons.
Today the Liberal Arts are fighting for a come-back, the pendulum having swung considerably too far in the other direction.