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.

Loose (l?s), v. n. [imp. & p. p. Loosed (l?st); 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 ?

Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me.

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.

Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

3. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.

The joints of his loins were loosed.

4. To solve; to interpret. [Obs.] Spenser.

Loose (l?s), a. [Compar. Looser (?); superl. Loosest.] [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. √127. 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.

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 ?

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.

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.

6. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right.

The loose morality which he had learned.

7. Unconnected; rambling.

Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages.

8. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. Locke.

9. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.

Loose ladies in delight.

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