set free

set free (from something)

1. To liberate someone or something from imprisonment or confinement. A noun or pronoun can be used either before or after "free." The activists snuck into the lab and set free nearly 200 animals being used for biological experiments. The president set the man free from prison with an executive order.
2. To release someone or something from some obligation, control, or restriction. A noun or pronoun can be used either before or after "free." The rebellion is trying to set the country free from the tyrannical dictator. The ruling means the company is set free from its duty to recompense any customer affected by their defective product.
See also: free, set
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

set someone or something free (from something)

to release someone or something from something. The commando set the secret agent free from the prison. Who set the chickens free from their pens? At last, he set himself free from the inhibitions that held him back.
See also: free, set
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • rescue from
  • rescue from (someone or something)
  • not do (someone or oneself) any favors
  • identify with
  • attune to
  • ask back
  • orient
  • orient to
  • orient to (something)
  • involved with
References in periodicals archive
Lebanese authorities repeatedly thanked Damascus Saturday for accepting the rebels' demand to set free 100 to 200 women detainees held in regime jails.
"The price is always huge and this our continuous cause," added Bassil, expressing his gladness to see the Mloula Sisters set free after paying the price for their mission.
They were set free after negotiations between Tunisian and Libyan government and security authorities, according to a security source in Medenine.
As regards the director of the company that produced the meat Albert Ogajanyan, Kostanyan said that he was not set free,
Al-Qaeda has also claimed responsibility for simultaneous raids on two Iraqi jails last week in which the group said more than 500 inmates were set free.
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai appealed for the release of two Orthodox bishops kidnapped and held in Syria, saying they should be set free in the name of humanity.
He will now be set free unless the Home Secretary and US government attempt to take the case to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the UK.
Security forces intervened to set free old people, women and children who were held by a group of individuals with criminal records and wanted for common law crimes in the Gdim Izik camp, after all serious dialogue means were used to find a way out to a situation that is unacceptable from the legal perspective.
About 1,000 minks were set free earlier this month from the farm in Sundsvall, 210 miles north of Stockholm, by vandals who scrawled "DBF" - the Swedish acronym for Animal Liberation Front.
Five of them were Rwandan who were set free the next day, while the two Spanish sisters, a doctor and a nurse, were kept several weeks longer to minister to injured members of the band.
figure By KNA A young man charged with defilement has been set free the victim told a Kwale court that she and her baby have been depending on him for their upkeep.The complainant who was inconsolable, tearfully defended the accused, who was charged with defiling and impregnating her last year when she was 17.An expectant silence engulfed the packed courtroom as the girl narrated her ordeal to Senior Resident Magistrate Patrick Wambugu, who keenly listened to her.
The vehicles were seized recently by capital police at different check points after their drivers failed to produce their documents but the drivers were set free.
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) steward Mohammad Shoaib, who was caught red-handed while smuggling, has been set free by the inquiry committee after being fined only Rs20,000.
The seven animals were set free from Barangay (village) Malbang on July 13, Alfredo Collado, DENR provincial officer, said in a telephone interview on Thursday (July 20).
However, sources in his family said the doctor was set free after payment of 14 million rupees.