Manumits

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To release from slavery or servitude, to grant freedom to a bonded person, or to formally free a slave by legal or official act
2. The act of liberating an individual from bondage, emancipating someone from servitude, or legally granting autonomy to a person formerly held as property
3. The process by which a master frees a slave, the formal declaration of freedom to one bound in servitude, or the official act of ending enslavement through authorized means

Etymology: "Manumits" is the third-person singular form of "manumit," so the story belongs to the verb itself. The verb comes from Latin "manūmittere," which was built from the pre-Classical phrase "manū ēmittere," meaning "send out from one's hand." In Roman law, that gesture was the act of releasing a person from slavery, and the image of letting someone go from the hand gave the word its core sense. The verb reached English through Middle English "manumitten," so it arrived by way of the medieval period rather than directly from classical texts. Its meaning stayed tied to the legal act of freeing an enslaved person, and the literal sense of "sending out from the hand" faded into the background, though it is still visible in the word's parts.

Synonyms: liberates, frees, emancipates, releases, discharges

Antonyms: enslaves, imprisons, captures, detains, binds