large

(liirj), a.and m. [ F. large = Sp. Pg. It. largo, >— three or to two longs, according to the rhythm used. Also called a maxima ormaxim. It was variously made, as when used at the end of a piece its time value was often indefinite. _A large, a long, a breve, a semibreve, A minim, a crotchet, a quaver, a semiquaver. Middle ton, More Di emblers Besides Women, v. 1. 3+. Bounty; large . It bicometh to a kynge to kepe and to defende, And conquer our of conquest his lawes and his large. Piers Plowman (B), xix. 43, At parge (formerly also at his large, etc.). (a) At liberty; without restraint or confinement: as, to go at large; to be left at large. 3356 Alwey they seke upward on highte, While eche of hem is at his large. Chaucer, House of Fame, 1, 745, A byrd in hand, as some men say, is worth ten [that] flye at large. Babees Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 98. The will And high permi ion of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs. Milton, P. L., i. 218, In prison I expected greater satisfactions than I had enjoyed at large. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxvii. (6) At length; in or to the full extent; fully: as, to discourse on a subject at large. I will now declare at large why, in mine opinion, loue is fitter than feare. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 81. This is more at large describ’d in the Gazette of that day. Evelyn, Diary, June 2, 1672. (c) In general; as a whole; altogether. The nation at large gained greatly by the revolution. Pre scott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1. (d) For the whole; free from the customary limitation. In the United States a congre man at large is one elected by the voters of a whole State instead of those of a single district, which is done when the existing apportionment by districts does not provide for all the representatives to which the State is entitled. In some places an alderman or a supervisor at large is elected by a whole city or county, in addition to those elected by wards or townships.—Common at large. See common, n., 4. larget,v.i. [