English Dictionary: looser | by the DICT Development Group |
1 result for looser | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Loose \Loose\, a. [Compar. {Looser}; superl. {Loosest}.] [OE. loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin to OD. loos, D. los, AS. le[a0]s false, deceitful, G. los, loose, Dan. & Sw. l[94]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. |