Adjacent Words

Loose definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LOOSE, v.t. loos. [Gr.; Heb.]
1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening.
Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? Job 38.
Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them to me. Matthew 21.
2. To relax.
The joints of his loins were loosed. Daniel 5.
3. To release from imprisonment; to liberate; to set at liberty.
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed. Isaiah 51.
4. To free from obligation.
Art thou loosed from a wife? see not a wife. 1 Corinthians 7.
5. To free from any thing that binds or shackles; as a man loosed from lust and pelf.
6. To relieve; to free from any thing burdensome or afflictive.
Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. Luke 42.
7. To disengage; to detach; as, to loose one's hold.
8. To put off.
Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. Josh 5.
9. To open.
Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? Revelation 5.
10. To remit; to absolve.
Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16.
LOOSE, v.i. To set sail; to leave a port or harbor.
Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga, in Pamphylia. Acts 42.
LOOSE, a.
1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not fastened or confined; as the loose sheets of a book.
2. Not tight or close; as a loose garment.
3. Not crowded; not close or compact.
With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array.
4. Not dense, close or compact; as a cloth or fossil of loose texture.
5. Not close; not concise; lax; as a loose and diffuse style.
6. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as a loose way of reasoning.
7. Not strict or rigid; as a loose observance of rites.
8. Unconnected; rambling; as a loose indigested play.
Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages.
9. Of lax bowels.
10. Unengaged; not attached or enslaved.
Their prevailing principle is, to sit as loose from pleasures, and be as moderate in the use of them as they can.
11. Disengaged; free from obligation; with from or of.
Now I stand loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thought? [Little used.]
12. Wanton; unrestrained in behavior; dissolute; unchaste; as a loose man or woman.
13. Containing unchaste language; as a loose epistle.
To break loose, to escape from confinement; to gain liberty by violence.
To let loose, to free from restraint or confinement; to set at liberty.
LOOSE, n. Freedom from restraint; liberty.
Come, give thy soul a loose.
Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow.
We use this word only in the phrase, give a loose. The following use of it, "he runs with an unbounded loose," is obsolete.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not compact or dense in structure or arrangement; "loose gravel" [ant: compact]
2: (of a ball in sport) not in the possession or control of any player; "a loose ball"
3: not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting; "loose clothing"; "the large shoes were very loose" [ant: tight]
4: not officially recognized or controlled; "an informal agreement"; "a loose organization of the local farmers" [syn: informal, loose]
5: not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem" [syn: free, loose, liberal]
6: emptying easily or excessively; "loose bowels" [syn: lax, loose]
7: not affixed; "the stamp came loose" [syn: unaffixed, loose] [ant: affixed]
8: not tense or taut; "the old man's skin hung loose and grey"; "slack and wrinkled skin"; "slack sails"; "a slack rope" [syn: loose, slack]
9: (of textures) full of small openings or gaps; "an open texture"; "a loose weave" [syn: loose, open]
10: lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk"; "a loose tongue" [syn: idle, loose]
11: not carefully arranged in a package; "a box of loose nails"
12: 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" [syn: at large, escaped, loose, on the loose]
13: casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior; "her easy virtue"; "he was told to avoid loose (or light) women"; "wanton behavior" [syn: easy, light, loose, promiscuous, sluttish, wanton] v
1: grant freedom to; free from confinement [syn: free, liberate, release, unloose, unloosen, loose] [ant: confine, detain]
2: turn loose or free from restraint; "let loose mines"; "Loose terrible plagues upon humanity" [syn: unleash, let loose, loose]
3: make loose or looser; "loosen the tension on a rope" [syn: loosen, loose] [ant: stiffen]
4: become loose or looser or less tight; "The noose loosened"; "the rope relaxed" [syn: loosen, relax, loose] [ant: stiffen] adv
1: without restraint; "cows in India are running loose" [syn: loose, free]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (looser; loosest) Etymology: Middle English lous, from Old Norse lauss; akin to Old High German l?s loose — more at -less Date: 13th century 1. a. not rigidly fastened or securely attached b. (1) having worked partly free from attachments <a loose tooth> (2) having relative freedom of movement c. produced freely and accompanied by raising of mucus <a loose cough> d. not tight-fitting 2. a. free from a state of confinement, restraint, or obligation <a lion loose in the streets> <spend loose funds wisely> b. not brought together in a bundle, container, or binding c. archaic disconnected, detached 3. a. not dense, close, or compact in structure or arrangement b. not solid ; watery <loose stools> 4. a. lacking in restraint or power of restraint <a loose tongue> b. lacking moral restraint ; unchaste c. overactive; specifically marked by frequent voiding especially of watery stools <loose bowels> 5. a. not tightly drawn or stretched ; slack b. being flexible or relaxed <stay loose> 6. a. lacking in precision, exactness, or care <loose brushwork> <loose usage> b. permitting freedom of interpretation 7. not in the possession of either of two competing teams <a loose ball> <a loose puck> • loosely adverb • looseness noun II. verb (loosed; loosing) Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. a. to let loose ; release b. to free from restraint 2. to make loose ; untie <loose a knot> 3. to cast loose ; detach 4. to let fly ; discharge 5. to make less rigid, tight, or strict ; relax intransitive verb to let fly a missile (as an arrow) ; fire III. adverb Date: 15th century in a loose manner ; loosely

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & v. --adj. 1 a not or no longer held by bonds or restraint. b (of an animal) not confined or tethered etc. 2 detached or detachable from its place (has come loose). 3 not held together or contained or fixed. 4 not specially fastened or packaged (loose papers; had her hair loose). 5 hanging partly free (a loose end). 6 slack, relaxed; not tense or tight. 7 not compact or dense (loose soil). 8 (of language, concepts, etc.) inexact; conveying only the general sense. 9 (preceding an agent noun) doing the expressed action in a loose or careless manner (a loose thinker). 10 morally lax; dissolute (loose living). 11 (of the tongue) likely to speak indiscreetly. 12 (of the bowels) tending to diarrhoea. 13 Sport a (of a ball) in play but not in any player's possession. b (of play etc.) with the players not close together. 14 Cricket a (of bowling) inaccurately pitched. b (of fielding) careless or bungling. 15 (in comb.) loosely (loose-flowing; loose-fitting). --n. 1 a state of freedom or unrestrainedness. 2 loose play in football (in the loose). 3 free expression. --v.tr. 1 release; set free; free from constraint. 2 untie or undo (something that constrains). 3 detach from moorings. 4 relax (loosed my hold on it). 5 discharge (a gun or arrow etc.). Phrases and idioms: at a loose end (US at loose ends) (of a person) unoccupied, esp. temporarily. loose box a compartment for a horse, in a stable or vehicle, in which it can move about. loose change money as coins in the pocket etc. for casual use. loose cover Brit. a removable cover for a chair or sofa etc. loose-leaf adj. (of a notebook, manual, etc.) with each leaf separate and removable. --n. a loose-leaf notebook etc. loose-limbed having supple limbs. loose order an arrangement of soldiers etc. with wide intervals. on the loose 1 escaped from captivity. 2 having a free enjoyable time. Derivatives: loosely adv. looseness n. loosish adj. Etymology: ME los f. ON lauss f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Loose Loose, v. i. To set sail. [Obs.] --Acts xiii. 13.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Loose 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Loose 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(looser, loosest, looses, loosing, loosed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Something that is loose is not firmly held or fixed in place. If a tooth feels very loose, your dentist may recommend that it's taken out... Two wooden beams had come loose from the ceiling... She idly pulled at a loose thread on her skirt. ADJ • loosely Tim clasped his hands together and held them loosely in front of his belly. ADV: ADV with v 2. Something that is loose is not attached to anything, or held or contained in anything. Frank emptied a handful of loose change on the table... A page came loose and floated onto the tiles. ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. If people or animals break loose or are set loose, they are no longer held, tied, or kept somewhere and can move around freely. She broke loose from his embrace and crossed to the window... Why didn't you tell me she'd been set loose?... = free ADJ: ADJ after v, ADJ n, v-link ADJ 4. Clothes that are loose are rather large and do not fit closely. Wear loose clothes as they're more comfortable. = baggy ? tight ADJ • loosely His shirt hung loosely over his thin shoulders. ADV: ADV after v, ADV -ed 5. If your hair is loose, it hangs freely round your shoulders and is not tied back. She was still in her nightdress, with her hair hanging loose over her shoulders. ADJ 6. If something is loose in texture, there is space between the different particles or threads it consists of. She gathered loose soil and let it filter slowly through her fingers. ADJ 7. A loose grouping, arrangement, or organization is flexible rather than strictly controlled or organized. Murray and Alison came to some sort of loose arrangement before he went home... He wants a loose coalition of leftwing forces. ADJ: usu ADJ n • loosely The investigation had aimed at a loosely organised group of criminals. ADV: ADV with v 8. If a person or an animal is on the loose, they are free because they have escaped from a person or place. Up to a thousand prisoners may be on the loose inside the jail... PHRASE: v-link PHR 9. a loose cannon: see cannon all hell breaks loose: see hell

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Unfasten, untie, unbind, unloose, set free. 2. Relax, loosen. 3. Release, liberate, free, set free. 4. Detach, disconnect, disengage. 5. Unfasten, undo, unlock. 6. Remit, absolve. II. a. 1. Unbound, untied, unsewed, unconfined, unfastened. 2. Free, unattached. 3. Movable. 4. Slack, relaxed. 5. Open, incompact. 6. Prolix, rambling, diffusive, unconnected, diffuse. 7. Vague, indefinite, indistinct, indeterminate, ill-defined. 8. Lax. 9. Lax, careless, slack, negligent, heedless. 10. Easy, comfortable. 11. Disengaged, free, unengaged (with from or of). 12. Immoral, dissolute, unchaste, wanton, licentious.

Moby Thesaurus

Bohemian, Paphian, abandoned, abate, absonant, adrift, affable, afloat, afoot and lighthearted, aid, aimless, aleatoric, aleatory, alleviate, amorphous, approximate, approximative, at large, at liberty, aweigh, bagging, baggy, ballooning, barbarous, bate, beat-up, bedraggled, blobby, blowzy, blurred, blurry, break loose, broad, by the way, capricious, careless, cast off, cast-off, casual, chambering, chance, chancy, chaotic, chintzy, clear, clear the way, confused, contradictory, contrary to reason, cool off, cordial, corrupt, culpably negligent, dangling, debauched, degage, deliver, derelict, desultory, detach, detached, deviative, diffuse, digressive, dilapidated, discharge, disconnected, discontinuous, discursive, disengage, disengaged, disenthrall, disjoin, disjointed, disordered, disorganized, disperse, dispersed, dissolute, doff, drabbletailed, draggled, draggletailed, drooping, droopy, ease, ease off, ease up, easy, easygoing, emancipate, emancipated, emit, episodic, erroneous, escape, escaped, excursive, expedite, explain, extravagant, facilitate, fallacious, familiar, fast, faulty, fire, flabby, flaccid, flapping, flawed, fled, flee, flimsy, floating, floppy, flowing, flown, foggy, folksy, footloose, footloose and fancy-free, free, free and easy, free as air, freeborn, freed, frowzy, frumpish, frumpy, fugitive, fuzzy, general, give out with, go-as-you-please, go-go, gracious, grease, grease the ways, grease the wheels, grubby, hanging, hasten, haymish, hazy, help along, hit-or-miss, homely, homey, ill-defined, illogical, immoderate, immoral, impotent, imprecise, improper, in disarray, in disorder, in rags, in the clear, inaccurate, inadvertent, inattentive, inauthentic, inchoate, incoherent, inconclusive, incongruous, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, inconstant, incontinent, incorrect, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indifferent, indistinct, indulgent, inexact, infelicitous, informal, intemperate, invalid, irrational, irregular, irrepressible, laissez-faire, lax, lenient, lessen, let down, let fly, let go, let up, lewd, liberate, liberated, libertine, licentious, light, limp, loose-moraled, loosen, lop, lop-eared, loppy, lubricate, lumpen, make clear, make way for, manumit, maundering, messy, mitigate, movable, mussy, natural, neglectful, neglecting, negligent, nodding, nonadhesive, noninterfering, nonrestrictive, nonscientific, nonspecific, not following, obscure, of easy virtue, of loose morals, off-guard, offhand, offhanded, oil, on the loose, open the way, open up, orderless, out of, out of control, out of hand, out of line, out of plumb, out of square, out of true, overindulgent, overly permissive, overpermissive, paralogical, pave the way, permissive, perverted, plain, poky, prepare the way, procrastinating, profligate, promiscuous, quicken, ragged, raggedy, rambling, rampant, random, reasonless, reckless, reinless, relax, relaxed, release, released, remiss, remit, remove, remove friction, rickety, riotous, rough, roving, rubbery, ruinous, run interference for, runaway, sagging, sagging in folds, saggy, scamping, scatter, scot-free, scraggly, seedy, self-annulling, self-contradictory, self-refuting, senseless, separate, set free, shabby, shadowed forth, shadowy, shaky, shapeless, shoddy, shoot, simple, simplify, sit back, skimping, slack, slack off, slack up, slacken, slake, slapdash, slatternly, slighting, slipshod, sloppy, slovenly, slurring, sluttish, smooth, smooth the way, soap the ways, sociable, soft, solecistic, sordid, speed, spread about, squalid, started, stochastic, streaming, swag, sweeping, tacky, take it easy, take off, tattered, unaffected, unanchored, unassuming, unattached, unauthentic, unbar, unbend, unbind, unblock, unbolt, unbound, unbrace, unbridle, unbridled, unbuckle, unbutton, uncage, unceremonious, unchain, unchained, unchaste, unchecked, uncircumspect, unclasp, unclear, unclog, uncoerced, uncommitted, uncompelled, unconfined, unconnected, unconstrained, uncontrolled, unconventional, uncurbed, undefined, undestined, undetermined, undo, undone, unengaged, unfactual, unfasten, unfastened, unfetter, unfettered, unfixed, unforced, ungag, unglue, ungoverned, ungrammatic, unguarded, unhandcuff, unhobble, uninhibited, uninvolved, unjam, unkempt, unlace, unlash, unlatch, unleash, unlock, unloose, unloosen, unmanacle, unmastered, unmeasured, unmoored, unmuzzle, unmuzzled, unneat, unofficial, unpen, unphilosophical, unpinion, unplain, unprecise, unreasonable, unreined, unrepressed, unreserved, unrestrained, unrestrictive, unrigorous, unruly, unscientific, unsecured, unshackle, unshackled, unsightly, unspecific, unspecified, unstick, unstrain, unstrap, unstring, unstuck, unstudied, unsubdued, unsuppressed, untether, untidy, untie, untied, untighten, untruss, unwary, unwatchful, unyoke, vague, veiled, vent, wandering, wanton, wayward, weak, weigh anchor, well out of, whorish, wild, without reason