WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

freeware
    n 1: software that is provided without charge

The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

freeware
 n.

    [common] Freely-redistributable software, often written by enthusiasts and
    distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin
    boards, Usenet, or other electronic media. As the culture of the Internet
    has displaced the older BBS world, this term has lost ground to both open
    source and free software; it has increasingly tended to be restricted to
    software distributed in binary rather than source-code form. At one time,
    freeware was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known
    MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious
    disappearance and presumed death in 1984. See shareware, FRS.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

freeware

    Software, often written by enthusiasts and
   distributed at no charge by users' groups, or via the
   web, electronic mail, bulletin boards,
   Usenet, or other electronic media.

   At one time, "freeware" was a trademark of Andrew
   Fluegelman.  It wasn't enforced after his death.

   "Freeware" should not be confused with "free software"
   (roughly, software with unrestricted redistribution) or
   "shareware" (software distributed without charge for which
   users can pay voluntarily).

   Jim Knopf's story (http://freewarehof.org/sstory.html).

   [Jargon File]

   (2003-07-26)