Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 285. The idiom today is to be at liberty to do something. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone says that he or she is at liberty to do something, it means that they have the right or permission to do a particular thing or they've been given the permission to do a particular thing. So they are at liberty to do it. It is used in a formal sense and it's probably more often heard in the negative than in the positive. So what does that mean ? You're a little more likely to hear somebody says that they are not at the Liberty to do something than they would say I am at the Liberty to do something. Okay. Let's continue. The origin comes from the Latin word" Libertatem ' which meant civil or political freedom and free from restraint. So free from limits. Free from restraint. It was passed down to English from the French word " Liberte " Okay. Meaning freedom or free will. Okay. So it worked its way into English this way and we got four, four examples here today. Here's the first one. Now the first one is not a negative. Your offer is below the amount I am at liberty to accept. I will discuss your offer with the boss and get back to you. So she's saying that it's below the offer she's at Liberty. So the boss probably gave her a certain amount, a bottom line and he offered below that. She doesn't want to say "no. " right now. She's just saying that she's not at liberty to accept this number. That, that's.... that is that low. She'll have to check with her boss first and then let her know if it's still okay or not. All right. Number two here. I am not at liberty. So it's a negative one. I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of this case. This matter is presently under investigation. Yes. So you might have a ... sometimes we say a gag order or something. You're, you're not legally allowed to talk about this because the investigation is going on. They don't want you revealing this information. All right. Number three here. There was a time anyone was at liberty. So anybody could have done this freely. To fish in that lake. Now because of an endangered species, it is against the law. So maybe they passed the law. Maybe there's like one fish or one little microorganism or something in that lake that they didn't like and they're afraid if you fish you might kill it off . So they say no more fishing in that Lake. So you're no longer at liberty to do that. Okay. And number four here. I am not at liberty to discuss confidential matters at my former employer or you know at his last job. There was a clause in my contract that I am not legally allowed to reveal that information. So he's not at liberty to say. So he doesn't have the freedom he has restraints. He cannot say that. He cannot give that information. So he is not at liberty to do that. Okay. I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.
B1 US liberty lake restraint boss freedom fish English Tutor Nick P Idioms (285) Be at Liberty to Do Something 4 0 anitawu12 posted on 2019/10/28 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary