freewheel

noun

1. A device in a transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driven shaft when the driven shaft rotates faster than the driveshaft.
2. The mode or state of operation thus produced: Synonym of neutral.

verb

1. To continue spinning after disengagement.
2. To ride a bicycle without pedalling, e.g. downhill.

   “On her elderly bicycle with the basketwork carrier on the handle-bars, Dorothy free-wheeled down the hill, doing mental arithmetic with three pounds nineteen and fourpence--her entire stock of money until next quarter-day.”

3. To operate a motor vehicle which is coasting without power, e.g. downhill.

   “Silently and gracefully I free-wheeled across the path of three juggernauts, [...] glided across the hard shoulder and came to rest halfway up a grass bank.”

4. (broadly, figuratively)To operate free from constraints.