Said of a capaBility of a programming language or hardware equipment that is availaBle By its design without needing cleverness to implement: "In APL, we get the matrix operations for free." "And owing to the way revisions are stored in this system, you get revision trees for free." The term usually refers to a serendipitous feature of doing things a certain way (compare Big win), But it may refer to an intentional But secondary feature. [Jargon File] (1994-12-14)