English

Noun

manumission ‎(plural manumissions)

1. Release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; the giving of freedom; the act of manumitting.
   • 1823, James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers, ch. 4:

     The manumission of the slaves in New York has been gradual.

   • 1881, Grant Allen, Anglo-Saxon Britain, ch. 19:

     In the west, and especially in Cornwall, the names of the serfs were mainly Celtic,—Griffith, Modred, Riol, and so forth,—as may be seen from the list of manumissions preserved in a mass-book at St. Petroc's, or Padstow.

   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     The more innocent dreamed of a manumission kindly bestowed by the new Emperor as one of a number of acts of justice and clemency proper to a new reign.

   • 2012 Nov. 30, Paul Finkelman, "The Real Thomas Jefferson: The Monster of Monticello," New York Times (retrieved 3 Aug 2015):

     Rather than encouraging his countrymen to liberate their slaves, he opposed both private manumission and public emancipation.

Synonyms

• emancipation, liberation

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