loose - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.

Middle English loos

English loose

From Middle English loos, los, lous, from Old Norse lauss, from Proto-Germanic *lausaz, whence also -less, leasing; from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- (“to untie, set free, separate”), whence also lyo-, -lysis, via Ancient Greek.

loose (third-person singular simple present looses, present participle loosing, simple past and past participle loosed)

  1. (transitive) To let loose, to free from restraints.
    • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 167:
      And it was Thora, the little Dwarf's wife,
      The five rune-books she took out;
      So she loosed him fully out of the runes,
      Her daughter had bound him about.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      "Ay, and one was nigh to being slain by the hot-pot to be eaten of those brutes, thy children, and had not the others fought gallantly they too had been slain, and not even I could have called back the life which had been loosed from the body."
  2. (transitive) To unfasten, to loosen.
  3. (transitive) To make less tight, to loosen.
  4. (intransitive) Of a grip or hold, to let go.
  5. (archery) To shoot (an arrow).
  6. (obsolete) To set sail.
  7. (obsolete) To solve; to interpret.

to let loose

to unfasten

to make less tight

to let go

archery: to shoot

loose (comparative looser, superlative loosest)

  1. Not fixed in place tightly or firmly.
    This wheelbarrow has a loose wheel.
  2. Not held or packaged together.
    You can buy apples in a pack, but they are cheaper loose.
  3. Not under control.
    The dog is loose again.
    • 2020 October 15, Frank Pasquale, “‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      The very idea of a machine set loose to slaughter is chilling.
    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 59:
      Now I stand / Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts?
  4. Not fitting closely.
    I wear loose clothes when it is hot.
  5. Not compact.
    It is difficult walking on loose gravel.
    a cloth of loose texture
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      with horse and chariots ranked in loose array
  6. Relaxed.
    She danced with a loose flowing movement.
  7. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate.
    a loose way of reasoning
    • 1858, William Whewell, The history of scientific ideas:
      The comparison employed […] must be considered rather as a loose analogy than as an exact scientific explanation.
  8. Indiscreet.
    Loose talk costs lives.
  9. (somewhat dated) Free from moral restraint; immoral, unchaste.
  10. (not comparable, sports) Not being in the possession of any competing team during a game.
    He caught an elbow going after a loose ball.
    The puck was momentarily loose right in front of the net.
  1. (dated) Not costive; having lax bowels.
  2. (of volumes of materials) Measured loosely stacked or disorganized (such as of firewood).
    Coordinate terms: stacked, solid
  3. (US, slang, motor racing, of a stock car) Having oversteer.

not fixed tightly

not packaged

not fitting tightly

not compact

relaxed

indiscreet

promiscuous

loose (plural looses)

  1. (archery) The release of an arrow.
    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter‎[3]:
      In throwing a Dart, or Iavelin, wee force back our armes, to make our loose the stronger.
  2. (obsolete) A state of laxity or indulgence; unrestrained freedom, abandonment.
  3. (rugby) All play other than set pieces (scrums and line-outs).
    • 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France‎[4]:
      The defeat will leave manager Martin Johnson under pressure after his gamble of pairing Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood at 10 and 12 failed to ignite the England back line, while his forwards were repeatedly second best at the set-piece and in the loose.
  4. Freedom from restraint.
  5. A letting go; discharge.

loose

  1. (archery) begin shooting; release your arrows

loose (third-person singular simple present looses, present participle loosing, simple past and past participle loosed)

  1. Obsolete form of lose.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 107, column 1:
      And now I feare that fatall Prophecie, / Which in the time of Henry, nam'd the Fift, / Was in the mouth of euery ſucking Babe, / That Henry borne at Monmouth ſhould winne all, / And Henry borne at Windſor, looſe all: […]
    • 1645 June, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for June 1645]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, pages 191–192:
      [W]e went to the Chetto de san Felice, to see the noblemen and their ladies at Basset, a game at cards which is much used, but they play not in public, and all that have inclination to it are in masquerade, without speaking one word, and so they come in, play, loose or gaine, and go away as they please.
    • 1675, George Mckenzie of Rosehaugh, “Without just”, in Observations upon the 28. Act, 23. Parl. K. James VI. against Dispositions Made in Defraud of Creditors, &c., Edinburgh: […] His Majesties Printers, page 89:
      And ſince the Law would not ſuſtain Action for it, at the gainers inſtance againſt the Debitor who looſed it, much leſſe ſhould it ſuſtain a Diſpoſition for payment of it againſt the Creditors, and yet this may be ſaid to be an onerous cauſe; for the looſer hazarded as much of his own, againſt what he gained, and ſo this Game was but the return of his Money: […]
  2. Misspelling of lose.
    I'm going to loose this game.

Hypercorrectively from English lose or back-formation from looseur (analyzed as loose (noun) +‎ -eur).

loose f (uncountable)

  1. (colloquial) bad luck; mediocrity, lameness.
    C'est la loose ! ― Bad luck! / This sucks!
    • 1998, “Mon clan”, in Où je vis, performed by Shurik'n ft. Faf Larage:
      On fout le feu, rien à foutre, la loose c’est pour ceux / Qui crachent dans la soupe et qui pensent comme eux
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)