frank law (frangkla)

[ franklin (frangkʻlin), n. [ First he [Joseph) was here als our thain, Bot now es he for ai frank elain . Cursor Mundi, L. 5373. 2. Formerly, in England, a freeholder; a veoman; originally, a person distinguished from the common freeholder by the extent of his po e ions, and by his eligibility to the dignities of sheriff, knight of the shire, etc.; in later times, a small landholder. Ful wel biloved and famulier was he [a friar] With frankeleyns over al in his cuntre. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L. 216. Provide me presently A riding suit, no costlier than would fit A franklin's housewife. Shak . , Cymbeline, iii. 2. In everything that relates to science, I am a whole Encyclopædia behind the rest of the world. I should have scarcely cut a figure among the franklins, or country gentlemen, in King John's days.