Free love recollected by sailors (7)
I believe the answer is:
absolve
'free' is the definition.
(to absolve is to free or spare from blame)
'love recollected by sailors' is the wordplay.
'recollected' is an anagram indicator (letters recollected and rearranged).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (AB is short for able seaman).
'love' is an anagram of 'olve'.
'olve' put after 'abs' is 'ABSOLVE'.
(Other definitions for absolve that I've seen before include "Declare (someone) guilt-free" , "Lob vase (anag.)" , "Set free from guilt" , "Clear of blame or quilt" , "free of error" .)