Definition of "freak"

And then, with heart more hard than stone,He pick'd my marrow from the bone.To vex me more, he took a freakTo slit my tongue and make me speak:But, that which wonderful appears,I speak to eyes, and not to ears.

1724, Jonathan Swift, On a Pen

It would be a great comfort to Mr. Weston, as he grew older—and even Mr. Weston might be growing older ten years hence—to have his fireside enlivened by the sports and the nonsense, the freaks and the fancies of a child never banished from home;

1815, Jane Austen, chapter 17, in Emma, volume III

[H]aving a dinner-party at his rooms to entertain some friends from London, nothing would satisfy Mr. Foker but painting Mr. Buck’s door vermilion, in which freak he was caught by the proctors …

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 19, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850

And I may answer with another question. Why is a two-headed calf? And my own answer to this is that it is a freak.

1907, Jack London, Before Adam, page 8

There may be good points about a freak reel, but because it is a freak it will stand little show of even a fair try-out

1920, Onnie Warren Smith, Casting tackle and methods, page 67

It is a freak that people talk about when they see it. Not everyone calls it by the right name, and few people know how it gets to be what it is. This freak is hail.

1938, Marian E. Baer, The wonders of water

When long-haired, outlandishly dressed, drug-using hippies pilgrimaged to Haight-Ashbury in the early 1960s, they were quickly dubbed freaks; the pejorative appellation was both obvious and intended. It was not long before freak had become practically synonymous with hippie. It seems, however, that with the acceptance of long hair, the appearance and popularity of some rather bizarre fashions, and the emphasis placed upon "doing one's own thing," freak is no longer burdened with all of its former derogatory associations. Instead […] the word is beginning to acquire a quality which is favorable, glamorous, and somehow even admirable.]

[1969, Paul A. Eschholz, “Freak compounds for 'argot freaks'”, in American Speech, volume 44, number 4, pages 306–307

Smith and Sturges note in their study of the San Francisco drug scene that freak means "anyone addicted to drugs."]

[1969, Paul A. Eschholz, “Freak compounds for "argot freaks"”, in American Speech, volume 44, number 4, pages 306–307

Gentrification often starts with the artists, revolutionaries, freaks, transfolks, and queers (what I would call my people) moving into poor neighborhoods inhabited by people of color.

2014, Inga Muscio, Autobiography of a Blue-eyed Devil

Anyone […] who seems "hung up" on some idea, activity or interactional disposition, might be called a "freak."]

[1968, Fred Davis with Laura Munoz, “Heads and freaks: patterns and meanings of drug use among hippies”, in Journal of Health and Social Behavior, volume 9, number 2, pages 156–164

Presently […] college students […] use freak to denote any kind of enthusiast.]

[1969, Paul A. Eschholz, “Freak compounds for "argot freaks"”, in American Speech, volume 44, number 4, pages 306–307

So why am I grieving over someone who doesn't even give a freak about me? These vindictive ideas flowed through my head. A part of me wanted to carve my name into his little Saturn leather seats, but I remembered they weren't leather.

2011 February 9, Silianise Moise, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, but ., Xlibris Corporation, page 145

They hear you, not out in the car, but when you practically say it to their face, they could make things hard for you, just to get back at you. You never know.” “Hey, Flor, not for nothin', but I don't give a freak about them guys or […]

2014 February 4, John Nicholas Iannuzzi, Condemned: A Novel, Open Road Media

Because I've seen the vampires up there, and they don't give a freak about anyone or anything. Tell me you are different." "I am trying to be. The urges are hard to overcome, but, I assure you, you're safe with me.

2020 December 23, Raven Steele, A Monster's Birth, Raven Steele

When the owner found a bunch of beatniks in there, he freaked, but that was later.

1968, Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Bantam, published 1997, page 240

But after one night turned into five days, I was freaking out. I missed him.

1994, James Earl Hardy, B-Boy Blues: A Seriously Sexy, Fiercely Funny, Black-On-Black Love Story, Alyson Publishing, page 107

Freakt with many a mingled hue.

1726, James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768

[…] in fine diaper of silver and mother-of-pearl freaking the intense azure; Now scurrying close overhead, wild ink-hued random racers that fling sheeted […]

1930, Robert Seymour Bridges, The Testament of Beauty: A Poem in Four Books, Literary Criticism, page 20

A freak goal gave Forest the lead when a clearance by keeper John Ruddy bounced off Nathan Tyson and flew in.

2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport‎