Origin and history of free-for-all

mid-13c., aquiten, "repay, reciprocate, reward or retaliate for" (a good or bad deed); c. 1300 as "satisfy a debt; redeem...French aquiter, acquiter "pay, pay up, settle a claim" (12c., Modern French acquitter), from a- "to" (see ad-) + quite "free..., clear," from Medieval Latin quitus, quittus, from Latin quietus "free" (in Medieval Latin "free from war, debts, etc.")...from charges, pronounce not guilty," and "discharge one's duty; behave or conduct oneself" (for better or worse), all of...

"to free a letter for carriage or an article for publication, to send by public conveyance free of expense," 1708, from shortened...form of French affranchir, from a- "to" + franchir "to free" (see franchise (v.))....As a noun, "signature of one entitled to send letters for free," from 1713....

That vast net-work of administrative tyranny ... that system of bureaucracy, which leaves no free agent in all France, except...for the man at Paris who pulls the wires....The formation is so barbarous that all attempt at self-respect in pronunciation may perhaps as well be abandoned....

c. 1300, sauf, "unscathed, unhurt, uninjured; free from danger or molestation, in safety, secure; saved spiritually, redeemed...salvation," from Latin salvus "uninjured, in good health, safe," which is related to salus "good health," saluber "healthful" (all...For the phonological development of safe from sauf, OED compares gage from Old North French gauge....exposed to danger" (of places, later of valuables) is attested from late 14c.; in reference to actions, etc., the meaning "free...

1815, "free from local, provincial, or national prejudices and attachments," from cosmopolite "citizen of the world" (q.v...From 1833 as "belonging to all parts of the world, limited to no place or society."...Meaning "composed of people of all nations, multi-ethnic" is from 1840....As a noun, "one who is at home all over the world, a cosmopolite," 1640s....

a form of mysticism which consists in abnegation of all exercise of the will and purely passive meditation on God and divine...things, 1680s, from Italian quietismo, literally "passiveness," from quieto "calm, at rest," from Latin quietus "free; calm...

Old English feohtan "to combat, contend with weapons, strive; attack; gain by fighting, win" (intransitive; class III strong verb; past tense feaht, past participle fohten), from Proto-Germanic *fe(u)hta (source also of Old High German fehtan, German fechten, Middle Dutch and Dut

1580s, of fortifications, "interior slope of a ditch," hence any sharp, steep slope, from Italian scarpa "slope," which is probably from a Germanic source, perhaps Gothic skarpo "pointed object," from Proto-Germanic *skarpa- "cutting, sharp," source also of Middle High German sch

[small piece, fragment] late 14c., scrappe, "piece of food remaining after a meal" (usually plural), from Old Norse skrap "scraps; trifles," from skrapa "to scrape, scratch, cut" (see scrape (v.)). Hence, "any remnant or small, detached piece" (1580s), typically negative (not a s