LOAST
LOOSE
Loose, a. [Compar. Looser; superl. Loosest.] Etym: [OE. loos, lous,
laus, Icel. lauss; akin to OD. loos, D. los, AS. leás false,
deceitful, G. los, loose, Dan. & Sw. lös, Goth. laus, and E. lose.
Lose, and cf. Leasing falsehood.]
1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed, or
confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.
Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat. Shak.
2. Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc.
; -- with from or of.
Now I stand Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts Addison.
3. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.
4. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of loose
texture.
With horse and chariots ranked in loose array. Milton.
5. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose style, or
way of reasoning.
The comparison employed . . . must be considered rather as a loose
analogy than as an exact scientific explanation. Whewel.
6. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some
standard of right.
The loose morality which he had learned. Sir W. Scott.
7. Unconnected; rambling.
Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected
pages. I. Watts.
8. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. Locke.
9. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.
Loose ladies in delight. Spenser.
10. Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language; as, a
loose epistle. Dryden. At loose ends, not in order; in confusion;
carelessly managed.
– Fast and loose. See under Fast.
– To break loose. See under Break.
– Loose pulley. (Mach.) See Fast and loose pulleys, under Fast.
– To let loose, to free from restraint or confinement; to set at
liberty.
Loose, n.
1. Freedom from restraint. [Obs.] Prior.
2. A letting go; discharge. B. Jonson. To give a loose, to give
freedom.
Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow. Addison.
Loose, v. n. [imp. & p. p. Loosed; p. pr. & vb. n. Loosing.] Etym:
[From Loose, a.]
1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the
shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.
Canst thou . . . loose the bands of Orion Job. xxxviii. 31.
Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring
them unto me. Matt. xxi. 2.
2. To release from anything obligatory or burdensome; to disengage;
hence, to absolve; to remit.
Art thou loosed from a wife seek not a wife. 1 Cor. vii. 27.
Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matt.
xvi. 19.
3. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.
The joints of his loins were loosed. Dan. v. 6.
4. To solve; to interpret. [Obs.] Spenser.
Loose, v. i.
Definition: To set sail. [Obs.] Acts xiii. 13.
LOSE
Lose, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Losing.] Etym: [OE. losien to loose, be
lost, lose, AS. losian to become loose; akin to OE. leosen to lose,
p. p. loren, lorn, AS. leĂłsan, p. p. loren (in comp.), D. verliezen,
G. verlieren, Dan. forlise, Sw. förlisa, förlora, Goth. fraliusan,
also to E. loose, a & v., L. luere to loose, Gr. l to cut. sq.
root127. Cf. Analysis, Palsy, Solve, Forlorn, Leasing, Loose, Loss.]
1. To part with unintentionally or unwillingly, as by accident,
misfortune, negligence, penalty, forfeit, etc.; to be deprived of;
as, to lose money from one's purse or pocket, or in business or
gaming; to lose an arm or a leg by amputation; to lose men in battle.
Fair Venus wept the sad disaster Of having lost her favorite dove.
Prior.
2. To cease to have; to possess no longer; to suffer diminution of;
as, to lose one's relish for anything; to lose one's health.
If the salt hath lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted Matt.
v. 13.
3. Not to employ; to employ ineffectually; to throw away; to waste;
to squander; as, to lose a day; to lose the benefits of instruction.
The unhappy have but hours, and these they lose. Dryden.
4. To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to and; to go astray
from; as, to lose one's way.
He hath lost his fellows. Shak
5. To ruin; to destroy; as destroy; as, the ship was lost on the
ledge.
The woman that deliberates is lost. Addison.
6. To be deprived of the view of; to cease to see or know the
whereabouts of; as, he lost his companion in the crowd.
Like following life thro' creatures you dissect, You lose it in the
moment you detect. Pope
.
7. To fail to obtain or enjoy; to fail to gain or win; hence, to fail
to catch with the mind or senses; to miss; as, I lost a part of what
he said.
He shall in no wise lose his reward. Matt. x. 42.
I fought the battle bravely which I lost, And lost it but to
Macedonians. Dryden.
8. To cause to part with; to deprive of. [R.]
How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much
passion Sir W. Temple.
9. To prevent from gaining or obtaining.
O false heart ! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and
lost me this glory. Baxter.
To lose ground, to fall behind; to suffer gradual loss or
disadvantage.
– To lose heart, to lose courage; to become timid. "The mutineers
lost heart." Macaulay.
– To lose one's head, to be thrown off one's balance; to lose the
use of one's good sense or judgment.
In the excitement of such a discovery, many scholars lost their
heads. Whitney.
– To lose one's self. (a) To forget or mistake the bearing of
surrounding objects; as, to lose one's self in a great city. (b) To
have the perceptive and rational power temporarily suspended; as, we
lose ourselves in sleep.
– To lose sight of. (a) To cease to see; as, to lose sight of the
land. (b) To overlook; to forget; to fail to perceive; as, he lost
sight of the issue.
Lose, v. i.
Definition: To suffer loss, disadvantage, or defeat; to be worse off, esp.
as the result of any kind of contest.
We 'll . . . hear poor rogues Talk of court news; and we'll talk with
them too, Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out. Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition