Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also freebee, freeby, freebye) any free sample, free trip, esp. press tours, promotions etc; also in fig use (see cite 2024).

1928		R. Fisher Walls of Jericho 300: freeby something for nothing, as complimentary tickets to a theatre.
1937		Duckett ‘Double Feature’ in N.Y. Age 3 July 7/1: [M]embers of the Fourth Estate are forever on tiptoes to ‘catch a freebie’.
1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 255: freeby (n.): no charge, gratis. Ex., ‘The meal was a freeby’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 217: Always lookin for a freebie. Jim why don’t you let up sometime.
1958		Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 483: freebye : Free, without charge; a free dance, a free meal.
1961		C. Himes Pinktoes (1989) 18: She asked to see some green before these tomcats have come by on a freeby.
1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 49: freebee – Anything that is free of charge.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 197: A number of detectives offering that sort of threat made visits to brasses for freebies, and one or two even took money off them, also their ponces.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 100: Here you are, looking for a goddam freebie.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 318: One of those fraught ‘freebies’ when a group of journalists were flown to Rhodes and I represented Harper’s.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] How about a freebee? You can sign it for me.
2001		C. Stella Eddie’s World 5: He owes me, so the car’s a freebee.
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 37: It was a nice little added extra, a freebie .
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 91: The girls make a side deal [...] A freebee to go.
2013		Mail & Guardian (SA) 12 July 🌐 There are folk who see these [promotional] trips as freebies.
2014		J.J. Sinisi ‘The Hard Sell’ in ThugLit July [ebook] ‘Fine, that’s the one I’ll pay for. What's my freebie?’.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] Was he after a freebie.
2018		G. Gilmore Class Act [ebook] ‘Zach was supposed to get freebies in the member’s stand’.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 204: ‘If I disappear, won’t some of them assume I really disappeared?’ ‘They get a freebee for that, yeah’.

2. (US) one who gives their services for free, esp. a prostitute.

1946		Drake & Cayton Black Metropolis 595: Casual pick-ups available for a ‘good time’ [...] are regarded not as prostitutes but as ‘freebys’-the passing of money becomes not so much a commercial transaction as a token of appreciation for a ‘good time.’.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 17: Prices are low in Coney Island because competition is too keen (‘too many freebies around wanting to give it away’).
1967		in Oz 7 23/3: I’d rather be a whore than a freebie.
1970		J. Wambaugh New Centurions 183: Lonely broads on the make, you know, just amateurs, freebies.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 145: In Los Angeles […] the boulevard boys on Selma, Hollywood, and Sunset boulevards try to detect the freebies, loonies,and undercover cops.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Another lad asked her was there any chance of a freebie.

3. one admitted free to a show, game, event.

1962

B. Veeck Veeck — as in Wreck 187: Well, not really a customer. Only a freebie.

4. (drugs) a free sample.

1973		Maurer & Vogel Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction in Maurer Lang. Und. (1981).
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 3: Stay as far away from the end-user as humanly possible otherwise it’s gimme a freebie.
2015		J. Stahl OG Dad 54: You can be off the hard stuff for decades, and, at mention of a freebie, your brain just kicks right back to junky-think.

5. something, e.g. food, given away for free (in a non-promotional context).

1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 265: I don’t dig welfare [...] The government could start giving the poor some bargains—not hand-outs or freebies.
1986		J. Ellroy Suicide Hill 187: He was [...] a freebie scrounger, always hitting the halfer restaurants and [...] leaving a quarter tip.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 122: Most guys [...] purchased blow jobs – or got freebies from certain of the screws.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 12: It’s not like he hung around soup kitchens doling out freebies.
2006		J. Ridley What Fire Cannot Burn 186: Raddatz [...] took over again before Soledad could hand out any more freebies.