"free hand" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "free hands",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "free hand (plural free hands)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Daniel Berg, Shipwreck Diving, page 26:",
          "text": "Wreck divers as well as night divers and cave divers have found that having a light or lights mounted on their head allows the divers to have free hands while being able to see.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see free, hand."
      ],
      "id": "en-free_hand-en-noun-~xtlz7wM",
      "links": [
        [
          "free",
          "free#English"
        ],
        [
          "hand",
          "hand#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 84",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 91",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023 August 23, Malcom Holmes tells Paul Stephen, “A mission to develop GCR's legacy”, in RAIL, number 990, page 38:",
          "text": "\"Since I've been here, I've been given a fairly free hand by the GCR board to get on with things, properly understand the organisation from a different perspective, and develop a new business plan for the future,\" he tells RAIL.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "free rein"
      ],
      "id": "en-free_hand-en-noun-G12lHhAh",
      "links": [
        [
          "free rein",
          "free rein"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) free rein"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-free hand.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d7/En-au-free_hand.ogg/En-au-free_hand.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-free_hand.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "free hand"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "free hands",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "free hand (plural free hands)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Daniel Berg, Shipwreck Diving, page 26:",
          "text": "Wreck divers as well as night divers and cave divers have found that having a light or lights mounted on their head allows the divers to have free hands while being able to see.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see free, hand."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "free",
          "free#English"
        ],
        [
          "hand",
          "hand#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023 August 23, Malcom Holmes tells Paul Stephen, “A mission to develop GCR's legacy”, in RAIL, number 990, page 38:",
          "text": "\"Since I've been here, I've been given a fairly free hand by the GCR board to get on with things, properly understand the organisation from a different perspective, and develop a new business plan for the future,\" he tells RAIL.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "free rein"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "free rein",
          "free rein"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) free rein"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-free hand.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d7/En-au-free_hand.ogg/En-au-free_hand.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-free_hand.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "free hand"
}