Loose

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive), Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

Loose, a. [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.].

•  Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed, or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.  [1913 Webster]

  "Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat."  [1913 Webster]
•  Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc.; -- with from or of.  [1913 Webster]

  "Now I stand
  Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts ?"  [1913 Webster]
•  Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of loose texture.  [1913 Webster]

  "With horse and chariots ranked in loose array."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose style, or way of reasoning.  [1913 Webster]

  "The comparison employed . . . must be considered rather as a loose analogy than as an exact scientific explanation."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right.  [1913 Webster]

  "The loose morality which he had learned."  [1913 Webster]
•  Unconnected; rambling.  [1913 Webster]

  "Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages."  [1913 Webster]
•  Lax; not costive; having lax bowels.  Locke.  [1913 Webster]
•  Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.  [1913 Webster]

  "Loose ladies in delight."  [1913 Webster]
•  Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language; as, a loose epistle.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

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. 

•  Freedom from restraint.  Prior.  [1913 Webster]
•  A letting go; discharge.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]

  "Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow."  [1913 Webster]

To give a loose, to give freedom.

Loose, v. n. [From Loose, a.].

•  To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.  [1913 Webster]

  "Canst thou . . . loose the bands of Orion ?"  [1913 Webster]

  "Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me."  [1913 Webster]
•  To release from anything obligatory or burdensome; to disengage; hence, to absolve; to remit.  [1913 Webster]

  "Art thou loosed from a wife ? seek not a wife."  [1913 Webster]

  "Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  [1913 Webster]
•  To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.  [1913 Webster]

  "The joints of his loins were loosed."  [1913 Webster]
•  To solve; to interpret.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

Loose, v. i. 

 To set sail.  Acts xiii. 13.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Loose, 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.).

Idiom

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.

Derivative

loosely adv. looseness n. loosish adj.

Etymology

ME los f. ON lauss f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Loose

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Loose

Diffuseness

N diffuseness, amplification, dilating, verbosity, verbiage, cloud of words, copia verborum, flow of words, looseness, Polylogy, tautology, battology, perissology, pleonasm, exuberance, redundancy, thrice-told tale, prolixity, circumlocution, ambages, periphrase, periphrasis, roundabout phrases, episode, expletive, pennya-lining, richness, diffuse, profuse, wordy, verbose, largiloquent, copious, exuberant, pleonastic, lengthy, longsome, long-winded, longspun, long drawn out, spun out, protracted, prolix, prosing, maundering, circumlocutory, periphrastic, ambagious, roundabout, digressive, discursive, excursive, loose, rambling episodic, flatulent, frothy, diffusely, at large, in extenso, about it and about it.

Feebleness

N feebleness, feeble, bald, tame, meager, jejune, vapid, bland, trashy, lukewarm, cold, frigid, poor, dull, dry, languid, colorless, enervated, proposing, prosy, prosaic, unvaried, monotonous, weak, washy, wishy- washy, sketchy, slight, careless, slovenly, loose, lax (negligent), slipshod, slipslop, inexact, puerile, childish, flatulent, rambling.

Disjunction

VB be disjoined, come off, fall off, come to pieces, fall to pieces, peel off, get loose, disjoin, disconnect, disengage, disunite, dissociate, dispair, divorce, part, dispart, detach, separate, cut off, rescind, segregate, set apart, keep apart, insulate, isolate, throw out of gear, cut adrift, loose, unloose, undo, unbind, unchain, unlock, unpack, unravel, disentangle, set free, sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind, circumcise, cut, incide, incise, saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst, rend, rend asunder, rend in twain, wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch, crunch, craunch, chop, cut up, rip up, hack, hew, slash, whittle, haggle, hackle, discind, lacerate, scamble, mangle, gash, hash, slice, cut up, carve, dissect, anatomize, dislimb, take to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, tear piecemeal, tear limb from limb, divellicate, skin, disintegrate, dismember, disbranch, disband, disperse, dislocate, disjoint, break up, mince, comminute, apportion, part, part company, separate, leave.

N disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.

Incoherence

N incoherence, nonadhesion, immiscibility, incoherence, looseness, laxity, relaxation, loosening, freedom, disjunction, rope of sand, nonadhesive, immiscible, incoherent, detached, loose, baggy, slack, lax, relaxed, flapping, streaming, disheveled, segregated, like grains of sand unconsolidated &c, uncombined, noncohesive.

Laxity

N laxity, laxness, looseness, slackness, toleration, freedom, anarchy, interregnum, relaxation, loosening, remission, dead letter, brutum fulmen, misrule, license, licentiousness, insubordination, lynch law, nihilism, reign of violence, dethronement, deposition, usurpation, abdication, lax, loose, slack, remiss, weak, relaxed, licensed, reinless, unbridled, anarchical, unauthorized, adespotic.

Freedom

N freedom, liberty, independence, license, facility, scope, range, latitude, play, free play, full play, free scope, full scope, free stage and no favor, swing, full swing, elbowroom, margin, rope, wide berth, Liberty Hall, franchise, denization, free man, freed man, livery man, denizen, autonomy, self-government, liberalism, free trade, noninterference, Monroe Doctrine, immunity, exemption, emancipation, enfranchisement, affranchisement, free land, freehold, allodium, frankalmoigne, mortmain, bushwhacker, freelance, free thinker, free trader, independent, free, free as air, out of harness, independent, at large, loose, scot-free, left alone, left to oneself, in full swing, uncaught, unconstrained, unbuttoned, unconfined, unrestrained, unchecked, unprevented, unhindered, unobstructed, unbound, uncontrolled, untrammeled, unsubject, ungoverned, unenslaved, unenthralled, unchained, unshackled, unfettered, unreined, unbridled, uncurbed, unmuzzled, unrestricted, unlimited, unmitigated, unconditional, absolute, discretionary, unassailed, unforced, uncompelled, unbiassed, spontaneous, free and easy, at ease, at one's ease, degage, quite at home, wanton, rampant, irrepressible, unvanquished, exempt, freed, freeborn, autonomous, freehold, allodial, gratis, eleutherian, unclaimed, going a begging, freely, ad libitum, ubi libertas ibi patria, free white and twenty-one.

Liberation

VB liberate, free, set free, set clear, set at liberty, render free, emancipate, release, enfranchise, affranchise, manumit, enlarge, disband, discharge, disenthrall, disenthral, dismiss, let go, let loose, loose, let out, let slip, cast adrift, turn adrift, deliver, absolve, unfetter &c, untie, loose, loosen, relax, unbolt, unbar, unclose, uncork, unclog, unhand, unbind, unchain, unharness, unleash, disengage, disentangle, clear, extricate, unloose, gain one's liberty, obtain one's liberty, acquire one's liberty, get rid of, get clear of, deliver oneself from, shake off the yoke, slip the collar, break loose, break prison, tear asunder one's bonds, cast off trammels, escape, liberate, free, set free, set clear, set at liberty, render free, emancipate, release, enfranchise, affranchise, manumit, enlarge, disband, discharge, disenthrall, disenthral, dismiss, let go, let loose, loose, let out, let slip, cast adrift, turn adrift, deliver, absolve, unfetter &c, untie, loose, loosen, relax, unbolt, unbar, unclose, uncork, unclog, unhand, unbind, unchain, unharness, unleash, disengage, disentangle, clear, extricate, unloose, gain one's liberty, obtain one's liberty, acquire one's liberty, get rid of, get clear of, deliver oneself from, shake off the yoke, slip the collar, break loose, break prison, tear asunder one's bonds, cast off trammels, escape.

Impurity

N impurity, uncleanness, immodesty, grossness, indelicacy, indecency, impudicity, obscenity, ribaldry, Fescennine, smut, bawdry, double entente, equivoque, concupiscence, lust, carnality, flesh, salacity, pruriency, lechery, lasciviency, lubricity, Sadism, sapphism, incontinence, intrigue, faux pas, amour, amourette, gallantry, debauchery, libertinish, libertinage, fornication, liaison, wenching, venery, dissipation, seduction, defloration, defilement, abuse, violation, rape, incest, prostitution, social evil, harlotry, stupration, whoredom, concubinage, cuckoldom, adultery, advoutry, crim, con, free love, seraglio, harem, brothel, bagnio, stew, bawdyhouse, cat house, lupanar, house of ill fame, bordel, bordello, impure, unclean, not to be mentioned to ears polite, immodest, shameless, indecorous, indelicate, indecent, Fescennine, loose, risque, coarse, gross, broad, free, equivocal, smutty, fulsome, ribald, obscene, bawdy, pornographic, concupiscent, prurient, lickerish, rampant, lustful, carnal, carnal-minded, lewd, lascivious, lecherous, libidinous, erotic, ruttish, salacious, Paphian, voluptuous, goatish, must, musty, unchaste, light, wanton, licentious, debauched, dissolute, of loose character, of easy virtue, frail, gay, riggish, incontinent, meretricious, rakish, gallant, dissipated, no better than she should be, on the town, on the streets, on the pave, on the loose, adulterous, incestuous, bestial.

Pendency

N pendency, dependency, suspension, hanging, pedicel, pedicle, peduncle, tail, train, flap, skirt, pigtail, pony tail, pendulum, hangnail peg, knob, button, hook, nail, stud, ring, staple, tenterhook, fastening, spar, horse, pendent, pendulous, pensile, hanging, beetling, jutting over, overhanging, projecting, dependent, suspended, loose, flowing, having a peduncle, pedunculate, tailed, caudate.

Deviation

N deviation, swerving, obliquation, warp, refraction, flection, flexion, sweep, deflection, deflexure, declination, diversion, digression, depart from, aberration, divergence, zigzag, detour, divagation, wandering, vagrancy, evagation, bypaths and crooked ways, byroad, sidling, knight's move at chess, deviating, aberrant, errant, excursive, discursive, devious, desultory, loose, rambling, stray, erratic, vagrant, undirected, circuitous, indirect, zigzag, crab-like, astray from, round about, wide of the mark, to the right about, all manner of ways, circuitously, obliquely, sideling, like the move of the knight on a chessboard.

& Sophistry

N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.