[common] Said of a capability of a programming language or hardware
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.
[glossary]