Definitions for: Loose


[adj] having escaped, especially from confinement; "a convict still at large"; "searching for two escaped prisoners"; "dogs loose on the streets"; "criminals on the loose in the neighborhood"
[adj] not restrained or confined or attached; "a pocket full of loose bills"; "knocked the ball loose"; "got loose from his attacker"
[adv] without restraint; "cows in India are running loose"
[adj] not affixed; "the stamp came loose"
[adj] not bound or fastened or gathered together; "loose pages"; "loose papers"
[adj] casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior; "her easy virtue"; "he was told to avoid loose (or light) women"; "wanton behavior"
[adj] not compact or dense in structure or arrangement; "loose gravel"
[adj] (of a ball in sport) not in the possession or control of any player; "a loose ball"
[adj] emptying easily or excessively; "loose bowels"
[adj] not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem"
[adj] freely producing mucus; "a loose phlegmy cough"
[adj] not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting; "loose clothing"; "the large shoes were very loose"
[adj] not officially recognized or controlled; "an informal agreement"; "a loose organization of the local farmers"
[adj] not carefully arranged in a package; "a box of loose nails"
[adj] lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk"; "a loose tongue"
[adj] not fixed firmly or tightly; "the bolts became loose over time"; "a loose chair leg"; "loose bricks"
[adj] (of textures) full of small openings or gaps; "an open texture"; "a loose weave"
[adj] not tense or taut; "the old man's skin hung loose and gray"; "slack and wrinkled skin"; "slack sails"; "a slack rope"
[v] become loose or looser or less tight; "The noose loosened"; "the rope relaxed"
[v] make loose or looser; "loosen the tension on a rope"
[v] turn loose or free from restraint; "let loose mines"; "Loose terrible plagues upon humanity"
[v] grant freedom to; free from confinement



Webster (1913) Definition: Loose, a. [Compar. Looser; superl. Loosest.] [OE.
loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin to OD. loos, D. los, AS.
le['a]s false, deceitful, G. los, loose, Dan. & Sw. l["o]s,
Goth. laus, and E. lose. ? See 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.] [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.
To set sail. [Obs.] --Acts xiii. 13.

Synonyms: at large(p), at liberty(p), baggy, coarse, easy, escaped, flyaway, free, free, free, friable, idle, inexact, informal, insecure, irresponsible, lax, let loose, liberal, liberate, light, loose-fitting, loosen, on the loose(p), open, phlegmy, promiscuous, regular, relax, release, sandy, shifting, silty, slack, sluttish, unaffixed, unbound, unchaste, unconsolidated, unconstipated, uncontrolled, unfirm, unleash, unloose, unloosen, unofficial, unpackaged, wanton

Antonyms: affixed, compact, confine, detain, stiffen, tight

See Also: alter, bail, bail out, change, let go, let go of, loose, parole, release, relinquish, remit, run, slack, slacken, unbend, unchain, unscrew, unspell, weaken

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