Category: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. Now I stand Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts Addison.
 * -- with from or of.

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 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 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 Loose, v. i.

Defn: To set sail. [Obs.] Acts xiii. 13.