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🗣️ Honest and direct 🌭 A sausage 📬 Mail stamp ✉️ To stamp mail 🛂 To allow passage
to frank

to frank

9.8
To allow passage through customs without normal checks or fees
  • verb
  • /fræŋk/
  • Formal
translation icon : eximir de
  • His package was franked at the border, so it arrived more quickly than usual.

Examples

  • The senator's letters were franked, allowing them to bypass postal fees and some inspections.

  • The package was franked before it was sent.

  • Diplomats are often franked through customs without their baggage being searched.

  • Can you frank this letter for me?

  • The customs officer allowed her to frank her package, so she didn't have to pay any duties.

  • He managed to frank his shipment through customs by using his diplomatic status.

  • They provided a letter that would frank the shipment, exempting it from inspection.

Synonyms

to exempt
vsto frank
  • Formal
30 4.1

To free someone officially from a rule or obligation

applies via an official pass to allow passage without inspection or duty

Compounds

frank breech
  • Specialized
9.3

A baby before birth with its bottom nearest the birth canal and legs straight up near the head

frank breech delivery
  • Specialized
5.8

A birth when the baby is lying so its bottom comes out first

Salian Frank
9.9

A member of an early group of Franks who settled in the Netherlands in the fourth century

Surface Forms

frank infinitive
franked past
franked past participle
franking present participle
franks third person singular

Etymology

Frank, to let someone through without checks, also comes from franc meaning 'free', because an official frank gave a person or package 'free' passage. That's why to frank someone is to allow them to pass without the usual fees or inspection.