Self-employed individuals who work on temporary contracts for various clients rather than being permanently employed by a single company. The plural of freelancer.
Originally 'free lance' referred to medieval mercenary knights whose lances weren't pledged to any particular lord. Sir Walter Scott popularized the term in 'Ivanhoe' (1820), and it evolved to describe independent workers in any field.
The romantic medieval imagery of the 'free lance' has given modern gig workers a noble linguistic heritage! Today's freelancers wield laptops instead of lances, but they maintain that same spirit of independence from feudal employment bonds.
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