Forms: 3 (in definite form), 5–7 lousse, (also 8–9 dial.) lowse, (4 loss), 4–5 lause, loos, 4, 6 lose, 4–7 lous, 4–8 louse, 5 lawse, 5–6 lewse, loce, 6 Sc. lowis, lowsz, 7 lowsse, 5– loose. [ME. lōs (with close ō), in north. dial. lous, a. ON. lǫus-s, laus-s (Sw. lös, Da. løs), = OE. léas LEASE a., q.v. for the ulterior etymology.] A. adj.
1. Unbound, unattached.
For to break loose, cast loose, cut loose, let loose, shake loose, turn loose, etc., see the verbs.
a. Of living beings or their limbs: Free from bonds, fetters or physical restraint. Now used only in implied contrast with a previous, usual or desirable state of confinement.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13333. Quat man þat þou lesess o band, For lous [Fairf. lause, Trin. louse] he sal in heuen stand.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 10581. So fast þey neuer hym bonde, Þat lose a noþer tyme þey hym fonde.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxix. (Placidas), 976. Þe emperoure … commandit his men … to … bynd þame in a place … & lyons loss lat to þaim ga.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 218. This Millere … boond hire hors, it sholde nat goon loos. Ibid., Cook’s Prol., 28. For in thy shoppe is many a flye loos.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 13190. He deliuert me lowse, & my lefe felow.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxvii. 17. Whether wyll ye that y geve losse vnto you [cf. Luther: welchen soll ich euch los geben?] barrabas or Iesus?
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 36. The gentle Lady, loose at randon lefte.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. i. 304. You are afraid if you see the Beare loose, are you not?
1608. Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876), I. 285. That na maner of swyne be hadin lows within this bruche or burrow ruidis.
1672. Dryden, Conq. Granada, I. i. When fierce Bulls run loose upon the Place.
1794. Cowper, Faithf. Bird, 8. They sang as blithe as finches sing That flutter loose on golden wing.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 41. A fine long time he [a bandit] has been loose on these hills.
1900. Speaker, 29 Dec., 340/2. Loose horses, blankets, bags and helmets littering the road.
Mod. He struggled until he got one hand loose.
b. transf. and fig., e.g., of something compared to a wild animal. Also of the tongue: Not ‘tied,’ free to speak. † To have one’s feet loose: to be at liberty to travel (cf. loose-footed 10 d fig.).
1726. Wodrow Corr. (1843), III. 239. To recover this,… were my feet loose, and my health served me, I would willingly make a London journey.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 354. We sometimes think we could such speech produce Much to the purpose, if our tongues were loose.
1817. Shelley, To W. Shelley, i. 7. The winds are loose, we must not stay.
1879. B. Taylor, Stud. Germ. Lit., 115. Then swords are drawn, and murder is loose.
c. In immaterial sense: Freed from an engagement, obligation, etc.; at liberty. Obs. exc. dial., e.g., in the sense ‘free from apprenticeship, having completed a term of service’ (E.D.D. s.v. Lowse).
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 59. The seruitude of these twoo, where the one is so muche beholding and bounde to the other, that neither of them bothe would be lose though thei might.
a. 1600. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xxi. 27. Quhen I wes lous, at libertie I lap; I leugh vhen ladyis spak to me of love.
1608. Rowlands, Humors Looking Gl., 14. My friend seeing what humours haunt a wife, if he were loose would lead a single life.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Loose, unoccupied. ‘I want to see the mistress when she’s loose.’
† d. With prep.: Free from or of; released or disengaged from; unattached to. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., IV. pr. vi. 106 (Camb. MS.). In so moche is the thing moore fre and laus fro destinye as it … holdeth hym nere to thilke centre of thinges.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10996. Philmen the fre kyng, þat he in fyst hade, He lete to þe large, lause of his hondes.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 249. [He] is lousse of his promess.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 28. Hauyng thy herte lose from all worldly pleasure.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., Wks. 1716, III. 179. To suppose that a Gentleman is loose from Business is a great mistake.
1695. Addison, Sir J. Somers, Misc. Wks. 1726, I. 5. If yet your thoughts are loose from State Affairs.
1713. Berkeley, Guardian, No. 3, ¶ 1. After getting loose of the laws which confine the passions of other men.
1761. Churchill, Rosciad, Poems 1763, I. 51. Loose to Fame, the muse more simply acts.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 512. Her champions wear their hearts So loose to private duty, that [etc.].
1821. Scott, Pirate, xxxvi. I wish we were loose from him [sc. the pirate captor].
† e. Loosely clad; ungirt; naked. Obs.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., xlix. Halflyng louse for haste.
1555. Eden, Decades, 56. They are excedynge swyfte of foote by reason of theyr loose goinge from theyr chyldes age.
1709. Prior, Pallas & Venus, 3. Venus, loose in all her naked Charms.
f. Of an inanimate thing: Not fastened or attached to that to which it belongs as a part or appendage, or with which it has previously been connected; detached. Phr. to come, get loose.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils (1729), I. II. 39. [A fossil] found loose on the Side of a pretty high Hill near Stokesley.
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 276. These bolts may be … withdrawn, either by means of a loose key or a stationary handle on the outside of the door.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxiii. 233. I remember once a sledge went so far under … that the boat floated loose.
Mod. Some of the pages have come loose. It would be more convenient if the volume had a loose index.
g. Not joined to anything else. Of a chemical element: Free, uncombined.
1828. Hutton, Course Math., II. 75. When a loose line is measured, it becomes absolutely necessary to measure some other line that will determine its position.
1873. Ralfe, Phys. Chem., 178. Carbonic acid is present in the blood in two conditions; viz., loose and stable.
h. Having an end or ends hanging free. Also in fig. context. (See also LOOSE END.)
1781. Cowper, Anti-Thelyphthora, 102. The marriage bond has lost its power to bind, And flutters loose, the sport of every wind.
1820. Shelley, Sensit. Plant, III. 68. Like a murderer’s stake, Where rags of loose flesh yet tremble on high.
1870. J. H. Newman, Gram. Assent, II. viii. 277. As to Logic, its chain of conclusions hangs loose at both ends.
i. Not bound together; not forming a bundle or package; not tied up or secured.
1488. Inv. R. Wardrobes (1815), 4. Fund in the maist of the said cofferis lous & put in na thing bot liand within the said coffyr[is] 570 rois nobilis.
1596. Spenser, Prothalamion, 22. With goodly greenish locks, all loose untyde.
1597. Shaks., Lover’s Compl., 29. Her haire nor loose nor ti’d in formall plat.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 159. Who compiled the Alcoran out of Mahomets loose paper.
1668. Dryden, Dram. Poesie, Ep. Ded. As I was lately reviewing my loose papers, amongst the rest I found this Essay.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 176. Loose fly his forelock and his ample mane.
1818. Shelley, Rosalind & Helen, 7. Thy loose hair in the light wind flying.
1840. Browning, Sordello, II. 194. This calm corpse with the loose flowers in his hand.
1850. Hannay, Singleton Fontenoy, I. I. vi. 97. Jingling the loose cash in their pockets.
1888. F. Hume, Mad. Midas, I. ii. Slivers had pushed all the scrip and loose papers away.
j. In immaterial sense: Unconnected; rambling; disconnected, detached, stray, random. ? Now rare.
1681. Dryden, Span. Friar, Ep. Ded. A 2 b. I … am as much asham’d to put a loose indigested Play upon the Publick.
1705. Stanhope, Paraphr., II. 256. These would check all our loose Wanderings.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 215, ¶ 2. These are but loose Hints of the Disturbances in humane Society, of which there is yet no Remedy.
1739. Hume, Hum. Nature, I. iv. (1874), I. 319. Were ideas entirely loose and unconnected, chance alone would join them.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xvii. Wks. 1753, V. 279. Vario will spend whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages.
1783. Burke, Rep. Affairs India, Wks. XI. 307. He gives various loose conjectures concerning the motive to them.
1871. Carlyle, in Mrs. Carlyle’s Lett., I. 247. Some real scholarship, a good deal of loose information.
k. Free for disposal; unattached, unappropriated, unoccupied. Obs. exc. in some jocular expressions. † Loose shot: marksmen not attached to a company. Loose card (see quot. 17631).
1479. Bury Wills (Camden), 51. I will that the seid priste be founde the residue of the seid vij yeers wt my loose godes, Ibid., 52. My executors pesably to ocupye my loose goodes.
1590. Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Conc. Weapons, 17. Mosquettiers … are not to be imployed as loose shot in skirmishes.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iv. 59. A File of Boyes,… loose shot.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., II. xxi. (1810), 418. The Enemy thereupon put out some of their loose Shot from their battle, and entertayned the fight.
1759. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), III. 798. Such as could render themselves agreeable to him in his loose hours.
1763. Hoyle, Whist, 82. Loose Card, Means a Card in a Hand that is of no Value, and consequently the properest to throw away.
1763. Johnson, Lett. to G. Strahan, 16 April, in Boswell. I hope you read … at loose hours, other books.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. 154. In the void’s loose field.
1839. I. Taylor, Ancient Chr., I. iv. 465. A devout and wealthy layman resolves to spend a loose five and twenty thousand pounds on sacred architecture.
1900. Daily News, 30 March, 3/3. With a handful of hastily levied farmers,… aided by the ‘loose talent’ of Europe.
2. Not rigidly or securely attached or fixed in place; ready to move in or come apart from the body to which it is joined or on which it rests.
For loose in the haft, in the hilt(s, to have a screw or a tile loose, a loose pin, slate, see the sbs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 228. Heo bið ikest sone adun, ase þe leste [MS. T. lowse, MS. C. lousse] ston is from þe tures coppe.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 70. Þei wolen be louse in us as nailes in a tree.
1479. Inv., in Paston Lett., III. 273. j. candilstykke with a lous sokett.
1530. Palsgr., 700/2. I shake, as a tothe in ones heed that is lose.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 58. Spangels … set on Crymosyn satten lose and not fastened.
1568. Grafton, Chron., I. 27. Moses … whose eyes were never dimme, nor his Teeth loose.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. i. 75. Hats, Cloakes … flew vp, and had their Faces Bin loose, this day they had beene lost.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 19. We are within shot; let all our Guns be loose.
1724. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 97. His bridge was only loose planks.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 194. Rills … chiming as they fall Upon loose pebbles.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1074. The said sheaves or pulleys are connected by a crown or centre wheel D, loose upon b, b.
1842. C. Hodge, Way of Life, III. ii. 78. Loose matter flies off from revolving bodies.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xi. 292. I sent Simond to the top to remove the looser stones.
b. Of dye: Not fast, fugitive.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., II. 72. A ‘loose’ colour … easily washed out from those parts.
† c. Of the eyes: Not fixed, roving. Obs.
1603. Dekker, Grissil (Shaks. Soc.), 7. Their loose eyes tell That in their bosoms wantonness doth dwell.
1751. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), II. 381. Prince Edward is a very plain boy, with strange loose eyes.
d. Of a cough: Producing expectoration with little difficulty; not ‘fast’ or ‘tight.’
1833. Cycl. Pract. Med., I. 316/2. Tightness across the chest, which yields as the cough becomes loose.
3. Of strings, reins, the skin, etc.: Not tightly drawn or stretched; slack, relaxed. With a loose rein (fig.): slackly, indulgently, without rigor.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 907. His gurdelle … be it strayt or lewse.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 37. Neyther haue they theyr bellies wrimpeled or loose.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Laxus, Funes laxi,… Cordes lewse or vnbounde.
1634. Milton, Comus, 292. What time the labour’d Oxe In his loose traces from the furrow came.
1718. Jacob, Compl. Sportsman, 50. His [sc. a Greyhound’s] Neck long,… with a loose and hanging Weasan.
1775. Burke, Sp. Conc. Amer., Sel. Wks. 1897, I. 184. The Sultan … governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all.
1799. M. Underwood, Dis. Children (ed. 4), II. 61. Some such application as the following will soon brace the loose gums.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, IV. iii. 17. My knife Touched the loose wrinkled throat.
b. Of clothes: Not clinging close to the figure; loosely fitting.
1463. Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 24. The saide Dauy sall cum bar fute, with his gowne louse.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. iii. 4. My skinne hangs about me like an olde Ladies loose Gowne.
1606. Holland, Sueton., 147. Veiled all over in a loose mantle of fine Sendall.
1680. Otway, Orphan, II. iv. Thy garments flowing loose.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 1291. Rob’d in loose array, she came to bathe Her fervent limbs.
1859. W. J. Hoge, Blind Bartimeus, vi. 172. As Bartimeus rose to hasten to Jesus, he ‘cast away his garment,’ his loose upper robe.
1901. Speaker, 17 Aug., 548/1. Men in loose flannel jackets sang old songs.
fig. 1605. Shaks., Macb., V. ii. 21. Now do’s he feele his Title Hang loose about him, like a Giants Robe Vpon a dwarfish Theefe.
c. Of the joints: Slack, relaxed from weakness. Also, of a person’s ‘build’: Ungainly, looking unsuited for brisk movement.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, ii. He was a strong, loose, round-shouldered, shuffling shaggy fellow, on whom his clothes sat negligently.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, 66. My eyes besides were still troubled, and my knees loose under me.
4. Not close or compact in arrangement or structure. a. gen. Used e.g., of earth or soil: Having the particles free to move among themselves. Of a fabric or tissue or its texture: Having spaces between the threads.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., II. metr. iv. 30 (Camb. MS.). The lavse [ed. 1532 lose] sandes refusen to beren the heuy wyhte.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 44. You must beware, that whyle the ground is loose and soft, you let not in the water.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. iii. 6. So shall no foot vpon the Churchyard tread, Being loose, vnfirme with digging vp of Graues.
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire (1891), 73. This Marle … is to be cast on baren lowse and drie land.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 34. The Ashes with Aire between, lie looser; and with Water, closer.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 40/1. A loose soft Mud.
1822–34. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), IV. 50. A current of blood superfluous in quantity but loose and unelaborate in crasis.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 38. It is a common custom to lay a quantity of loose earth of some kind over the yard.
b. Of array or order of men: Not dense or serried.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., II. 218. In their marches in loose troopes, they are billeted in the next houses at the countries charges.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 887. With Horse and Chariots rankt in loose array.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 374. Extend thy loose Battalions largely wide.
1744. Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Sp. Rhodomontades, 193. They began to break their Order, and retir’d in a very loose Manner.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer., v. Wks. 1813, II. 122. They repelled, with little danger, the loose assault of the Mexicans.
1818. Shelley, Rev. Islam, VI. vii. The loose array Of horsemen o’er the wide fields murdering sweep.
c. Bot. = LAX a. 3 b. Also (see quots. 1814–30 and 1839).
1776. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., Explan. Terms 78. Laxus, loose, easily bent.
1776–96. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 290. Gills loose.
1787. trans. Linnæus’ Fam. Plants, I. 63. The leaflets longer than the floret, loose, permanent.
1814–30. Edinb. Encycl., IV. 40/2. Leaves … Loose, (solutum) a cylindrical or subulate leaf, which is loosely attached to its stem.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (ed. 3), 472. Loose (laxus); of a soft cellular texture, as the pith of most plants. Ibid., 492. Loose (laxus); when the parts are distant from each other, with an open light kind of arrangement; as the panicle among the other kinds of inflorescence.
d. Occurring in book-names of certain plants of a straggling habit (see quots.).
1837. Macgillivray, Withering’s Brit. Plants (ed. 4), 71. Loose Panick-grass.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., VI. 38. Loose Pendulous Sedge.
e. Of handwriting: Not compact, straggling.
1711. Hearne, Collect. (O. H. S.), II. 105. [A transcript] wch is written in a pretty large and loose Hand.
1866. Skeat, Melusine (E.E.T.S.), Pref. (init.), It is written … in a clear but somewhat loose handwriting.
f. Applied to exercise or play in which those engaged are not close together or in which there is free movement of some kind. (See also quots. 1897 and cf. B. 2.)
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., s.v. Loosen, The lock step was introduced for the purpose of counteracting the mischievous effects of loose marching.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 146. The loose play, or independent practice, should first be attempted at a walk.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 253/2. Loose croquet, the striking of the player’s ball when both are set together, without putting one’s foot upon it. Ibid., 144/2. (Broadsword), Loose play, a contest in which the combatants deliver strokes and effect parries, not in any regular sequence, but as they think each may be most effective.
1899. Shearman, in Football (Badm. Libr.), 195. The real feature of the loose game … was the additional importance it gave to the three-quarter back.
5. Wanting in retentiveness or power of restraint.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 131. His lose tunge he mot restreigne.
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 416. There are a kinde of men, So loose of Soule, that in their sleepes will mutter Their Affayres. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., II. i. 127. Where you are liberall of your loues and Councels, Be sure you be not loose.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VII. iv. (1872), II. 283. A rash young fool; carries a loose tongue.
b. Of the bowels: Relaxed. Also said of the person.
1508. Kennedy, Flyting w. Dunbar, 484. A rottyn crok, louse of the dok.
1594. J. Dickenson, Arisbas (1878), 56. The brats of Usurers should be alwaies siche of the loose disease, neuer able to holde anything long.
1671. H. M., trans. Erasm. Colloq., 9. I have more need to stay it’s looseness, for my belly is too loose.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, xxi. (1710), 154. To keep the Body loose is very beneficial, but much Purging … is very injurious.
1783. J. C. Smyth, in Med. Commun., I. 202. It … gave her two loose stools.
1879. J. M. Duncan, Dis. Wom., xiv. (1889), 95. The patient tells you that her bowels are always either very constipated or very loose—implying by looseness rather frequency of motions than thinness or liquidity of the stools.
6. Of qualities, actions, statements, ideas, etc.: Not rigid, strict, correct or careful; marked by inaccurate or careless thought or speech; hence, inexact, indefinite, indeterminate, vague.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., III. iii. 41. Lay negligent and loose regard vpon him.
1622. Bacon, Holy War, Misc. Wks. (1629), 114. It is but a loose Thing to speake of Possibilities, without the Particular Designes.
1649. Milton, Eikon., Pref. The loose and negligent curiosity of those who took upon them to adorn this Booke.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxvi. 226. Prophets … at Delphi … of whose loose words a sense might be made to fit any event.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 188, ¶ 1. It is an Argument of a loose and ungoverned Mind to be affected with the promiscuous Approbation of the Generality of Mankind.
1752. Hume, Pol. Disc., x. 216. No attention ought ever to be given to such loose, exaggerated calculations.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., i. 3. We have only loose tradition and reports to go by.
1839. I. Taylor, Anc. Chr., I. iii. 173. Not merely a loose resemblance but a close analogy.
1844. Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), I. App. A. 317. The loose and indefinite word interea, or in the meanwhile.
1895. R. L. Douglas, in Bookman, Oct., 23/1. His style is … free from that loose rhetoric which is so wearisome to the reader who loves history for its own sake.
b. Of literary productions, style, etc.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. III.), 31. This kind of writing is rather a loose poetry, than a regular Prose.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. A loose Discourse, that does not hang together, discours qui n’est pas bien lié.
1709. Felton, Classics (1718), 173. That Loose and Libertine Way of Paraphrasing.
1754. Gray, Poesy, 61. Loose numbers wildly sweet.
1872. Minto, Eng. Prose Lit., Introd. 6. A sentence so constructed as to be noticeably loose.
1884. Church, Bacon, ix. 215. Nothing can be more loose than the structure of the essays.
c. Qualifying an agent-noun.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem. (Arb.), 116. Colde, lowse, and rough writers.
1847. L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., II. i. 3. Lady Dorset was accounted a loose speaker.
1865. Lightfoot, Galatians (1874), 120. No stress can be laid on the casual statement of a writer so loose and so ignorant of Greek.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., ii. 29. We are loose thinkers and loose talkers.
1902. Blackw. Mag., May, 590/2. Here too are traps for the loose rider.
† d. Of conditions, undertakings, engagements: Lacking security, unsettled. Obs.
1603. Contn. Adv. Don Sebastian, in Harl. Misc. (1810), V. 468. I hold it no policy to deliver it [a letter] her; considering it as a loose adventure, in such dangers, to trust a woman.
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 80. We make loose bargains in the behalf of our Souls.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. To be in a loose (or unsettled) Condition, n’avoir point d’Etablissement.
e. Cricket. Of bowling: Wanting in accuracy of pitch. Of fielding, etc.: Careless, slack.
1859. All Year Round, No. 13. 306. The loose balls we hit for fours and fives; the good ones we put away for singles.
1877. Box, Eng. Game Cricket, 454. Loose, this adjective is frequently applied to batting, bowling, and fielding too.
1884. Lillywhite’s Cricket Ann., 103. P. M. Lucas punishes loose bowling severely.
f. colloq. Of an appointed time: Not strictly adhered to.
1892. Sir H. Maxwell, Meridiana, 45. Breakfast is not on the table till a loose ten.
7. Of persons, their habits, writings, etc.: Free from moral restraint; lax in principle, conduct or speech; chiefly in narrower sense, unchaste, wanton, dissolute, immoral.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., III. (Cock & Fox), xx. He was sa lous, and sa lecherous.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 197. He had ane lous man with him in his companie callit Makgregour quhilk he suspectit gif ony thing war in missing it wald be found of tymes throw his handis.
1588. Greene, Perimedes, 43. By being lose in my loues,… to disparage mine honour.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 776. Which partie-coated presence of loose loue Put on by vs.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Amancebado,… a loose liuer.
1650. Baxter, Saints’ R., I. vii. (1662), 104. Now every old companion and every loose-fellow is putting up the finger.
1660. Pepys, Diary, 9 Oct. I find him to be a merry fellow and pretty good natured, and sings very loose songs.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, xix. (1697), 428. The Spermatick Vessels, whence proceed wanton Desires, and loose Imaginations.
1700. Dryden, Pref. Fables, Wks. (Globe), 502. I am sensible … of the scandal I have given by my loose writings.
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 170. He had led a loose life.
a. 1770. Jortin, Serm. (1771), IV. i. 5. The Pagans though loose enough in other points of duty.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 378. Loose in morals, and in manners vain.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 118. He was a loose and profane man.
1879. F. W. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 675. The leading hierarchs resembled the loosest of the Avignon cardinals.
8. Applied to a stable in which animals are kept ‘loose’ (sense 1 a) or without being fastened up. So also loose box (see BOX sb.2 12).
1813. Sporting Mag., XLII. 54. The reader will have noticed my frequent warm recommendations of the loose stable.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Cottage Archit., § 1091. The stables, loose-house (stable or place for a sick horse … &c.),… to be neatly causewayed.
1839. Greenwood, Hints Horsemanship (1861), 128. A horse should have a loose standing if possible; if he must be tied in a stall it should be flat.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, lxxv. Gentlemen hunting with the … hounds will find excellent Stabling and loose boxes for horses at the ‘Clavering Arms.’
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. ii. 89. Loose boxes for no end of horses.
9. In certain specialized collocations: loose fall Whaling (see FALL sb.3); loose fish, (a) colloq. a person of irregular habits; † (b) a common prostitute; (c) (see quot. 1864); (d) Whaling (see quot. 1883); † loose hand = LOOSE END, in phr. at the loose hand; loose ice (see quot. 1835); loose pulley, ‘a pulley running loosely on the shaft, and receiving the belt from the fast pulley when the shaft is to be disconnected from the motor’ (Knight, Dict. Mech.); also fast and loose pulley (see FAST a. 11); † loose work, a kind of embroidery in which certain parts (e.g., those representing leaves of trees) are left free to move.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. vii. Girls in a servile condition of life, or those unfortunate *loose fish who are game for every sportsman.
1827. Egan, Anecd. Turf, 72. A game known among the loose fish who frequent races … by the name of ‘the thimble-rig.’
1864. Sat. Rev., July, 84/1. That peculiar variety of Parliamentary species known as ‘an outsider’ or ‘a loose fish,’ but described by itself under the more flattering title of ‘an independent member.’
1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Lang., Loose-fish, a whaling term signifying that the whale is fair game for anybody who can catch it.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1742), 77. He was weary of being at the *loose hand as to company.
1774. C. J. Phipps, Voy. N. Pole, 38. At one in the afternoon, being still amongst the *loose ice.
1835. Sir J. Ross, Narr. 2nd Voy., Explan. Terms p. xv. Loose ice, a number of pieces of ice near each other, but through which the ship can make way.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 382. A strap passing from a drum over a *fast and loose pulley.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 62. Loose pulleys will give trouble now and then, no matter how well they are fitted.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 58 b. Velvet, covered all over with braunches of hony suckels of fyne flat gold of dammaske, of *lose worke, every lefe of the braunche moving.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 844/2. A curious lose worke of veluet inbrodered with gold.
10. Comb. a. In concord with sbs., forming adjectival combs., as loose-needle, loose-wrist.
1866. Athenæum, No. 1997. 178/3. Loose-wrist practice [in pianoforte-playing] is a most excellent thing.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, Dialling, the operation of making a survey with the dial. There are two ways of using the instrument, known as loose needle and fast needle dialling.
b. with pples., loose being used as a complement, as loose-broke, -hanging, -hung, -let, -lying adjs.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., V. 203. His troops press forward like a *loose-broke flood.
1598. Marston, Sco. Villanie, II. vii. F 6. Her *loose-hanging gowne For her loose lying body.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., III. Street in Strasburg. What news do you bring with your loose-hanging rein?
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, II. xx. 133. The *loose-hung banners.
1872. A. de Vere, Leg. St. Patrick, St. P. & Armagh Cath. With tangled locks and loose-hung battle-axe Ran the wild kerne.
1870. Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 261. Effeminate in build, loose-hung, weak of eye and foot.
1601. Mary Magd. Lament., VI. xxvi. (Fuller Worthies Miscell., II.). My *loose-let soule.
1814. Southey, Roderick, Poet. Wks. 1838, IX. 53. Soon they scoop’d Amid *loose-lying sand a hasty grave.
c. parasynthetic adjs., as loose-barbed, -curled, -flowered, -girdled, -handed, -hipped, -jointed, -limbed, -lived, -locked, -panicled, -principled, -robed, -spiked, -wived.
1901. Blackw. Mag., Dec., 742/2. Their spears with *loose-barbed points.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 152. Her bronze-hued, *loose-curled head.
1837. Macgillivray, Withering’s Brit. Pl. (ed. 4), 346. *Loose-flowered Alpine Carex.
1894. Gladstone, Horace’s Odes, 35. With thee, *loose-girdled Graces come.
1870. Lowell, Among My Books, Ser. I. (1873), 223. To draw the line … between a wise generosity and a *loose-handed weakness of giving.
1648. Herrick, Hesper. (1869), I. 64. First Jollie’s wife is lame; then next, *loose-hipt, Squint-ey’d, hook-nos’d.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, iii. 28. Big-headed, *loose-jointed … carriage-horses.
1823. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 303. The cattle appear to be all of the Sussex breed … *loose-limbed.
1889. Doyle, Micah Clarke, 236. A long loose-limbed seaman came up from the mouth of the cave.
1641. J. Trappe, Theol. Theol., 250. *Loose-lived ministers.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, 94. *Loose-lock’d Sabines, who a battle stay’d.
1825. Greenhouse Comp., II. 43. Otidia laxa, *loose-panicled Otidia.
1858. J. Martineau, Stud. Chr., 188. A *loose-principled and unholy being.
1777. Eliz. Ryves, Poems, 60. Where *loose-rob’d Pleasure careless roves.
1837. Macgillivray, Withering’s Brit. Pl. (ed. 4), 346. *Loose-spiked Rock Carex.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 75. It is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man *loose Wiu’d.
d. Special combs.: † loose-bellied a., having the bowels relaxed; loose-bodied a., (of a dress) loose-fitting; † fig. lewd, wanton; † loose-breech, a slovenly lout; † loose-clacked a., loquacious, chattering; loose-footed a., having a loose foot (in quot., said of a sail); † fig. ready on one’s feet, at liberty to travel; loose-gowned a., wearing a loosely fitting dress; † fig. wanton; † loose-hangled a. [f. hangle HINGLE], loose-jointed; † loose-hilted a., ‘loose in the hilts,’ incontinent, wanton; loose-kirtle (quasi-arch.), a wanton; † loose-legged, † loose-tailed adjs., unchaste, incontinent; loose-tongued a., blabbing; † loose-waistcoateer, ? a woman.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Aluus liquanda, he must be made *loose bealyed.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 136. If euer I said *loose-bodied gowne, sow me in the skirts of it.
1621. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metam. (1640), 67. Christian shall get her a loose bodide-gowne.
1625. Shirley, School of Compl., II. i. Hee’s giddy-headed, and loose-bodied.
1672. Dryden, 1st Pt. Conq. Granada, Epil. And oft the lacquey, or the brawny clown, Gets what is hid in the loose-bodied gown.
1575. Gamm. Gurton, III. iii. I faith, sir *loose-breche, had ye taried, ye shold haue found your match!
1651. K. W., Conf. Charac., Informer (1860), 45. His dam was … some *loose clackt bitch or other.
1717. Wodrow Corr. (1843), II. 325. Were I as *loose-footed as I have been, I could come to London to have the benefit of reading it.
1895. Outing (U.S.), XXVI. 46/1. Tricing up the tack if the sail is loose-footed.
a. 1717. Parnell, Donne’s 3rd Sat., 36. Or for some idol of thy fancy draw Some *loose-gown’d dame.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Long, Longue eschine … a tall, ill-fauoured, *loose-hangled boobie.
a. 1652. Brome, New Academy, II. i. Wks. 1873, II. 28. Your *loose-hilted Mystresses.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxx. Here’s a fellow … talks about failing, as if he were a Barbican *loose-kirtle trying to keep her apple-squire ashore!
1599. Marston, Sco. Villanie, II. vi. 199. Here’s one must inuocate some *lose-leg’d Dame.
1598. J. Dickenson, Greene in Conc. (1878), 147. Her *loose-taild gossips which first intic’t her to folly.
1689. Carlile, Fortune Hunters, IV. 43. You have fixt her in the Rank of loose-tail’d Ladies.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler, 25. I shall … make bold … to borrow a little of their *loose tongued Liberty.
1883. Daily News, 7 Nov., 5/4. The Marquis thought some of his Paris Attachés had been rather too loose-tongued.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Pet. Poem, 18. So that my Doublet pin’d, makes me appear Not like a Man but a *Loose-wastcoateer.
B. quasi-sb. and sb.
1. absol. in phrases. a. On the loose: (behaving) in an unrestrained or dissolute fashion; ‘on the spree.’
1849. J. Hannay, King Dobbs, v. 76. One evening, when they were at Gibraltar, on the look-out for amusement—in modern parlance, ‘on the loose,’—they went into a little wine-shop [etc.].
1859. Punch, 9 July, 22/1. Our friend prone to vices you never may see, Though he goes on the Loose, or the Cut, or the Spree. Ibid. (1872), 20 July, 23/1. Having to appear at the police court in order to give evidence for one of your fast friends who has been out upon the loose.
b. In the loose: not made up into or prepared in a particular form.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 19 Nov., 8/1. Of this [collection of cigar ends] about 11/2 cwt. was sold in the loose to a tobacco manufacturer at 1s. per lb.
2. Rugby Football. That part of the play in which the ball travels freely from player to player, as distinguished from the scrimmage.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 25 Jan., 1/2. They carried the ‘scrums,’ and were quicker in the ‘loose.’
1900. Westm. Gaz., 12 Dec., 7/2. In the loose both packs did well, but the Oxford men were the more brilliant.
C. adv.
1. Loosely; with a loose hold. To sit loose (fig.): to be independent or indifferent; to hold loosely to, not to be enslaved to; occas. not to weigh heavily upon. † So to hang loose (to). To hold loose: to be indifferent.
1591. H. Smith, Pride Nabuch., 27. How earnest hee was about his dreame and how loose he sat after in his pallace.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Epist. & Rev., 83. The best counsell I can give you, is that you hang loose to all these outward comforts.
1680. P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 281. Theref. get loose, my soul, from these th. & sitt loose to them.
1683. Temple, Mem., Wks. 1731, I. 480. I found within a Fortnight after I arriv’d, that he sat very loose with the King his Master.
1706. Atterbury, Funeral Serm. Bennet, in 14 Sermons (1708), 372. Their great and prevailing Principle is, to sit as loose from those Pleasures, and be as moderate in the use of them, as they can.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 119, ¶ 2. The fashionable World is grown free and easy; our Manners sit more loose upon us.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., II. xiii. I. 175. A fluctuating series of governors holding loose, and not in earnest.
1880. G. A. Simcox, in Macm. Mag., No. 245. 397/1. To the rubrical theories he [Wilberforce] simply sat loose.
2. To play fast and loose († loose or fast): see FAST AND LOOSE b.
a. 1555. Lyndesay, Tragedy, 196. We mycht full weill haue leuit in peace and rest, Nyne or ten ȝeris, and than playit lowis or fast.
3. Comb., as loose-driving, -enrobed, -fitting, -floating, -flowing, -living, -thinking, -wadded, -woven, -writ adjs.
1729. Savage, Wanderer, I. 165. Yon limeless Sands *loose-driving with the Wind.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. vi. 41. *Loose en-roab’d With Ribonds-pendant flaring ’bout her head.
1881. H. James, Portr. Lady, xxv. Ralph had a kind of *loose-fitting urbanity that wrapped him about like an ill-made overcoat.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 1316. In folds *loose-floating fell the fainter lawn.
1777. Potter, Æschylus, Seven agst. Thebes, 159. Their *loose-flowing hair.
1873. Longf., Milton, 6. Its loose-flowing garments.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., I. ii. Wks. 1878, II. 18. With easie Doctors, those *loose-liuing men.
1862. R. H. Patterson, Ess. Hist. & Art, 108. In this *loose-thinking style.
1841. Thackeray, Men & Coats, Wks. 1900, XIII. 610. Your *loose-wadded German schlafrock … is the laziest, filthiest invention.
1627–47. Feltham, Resolves, I. ii. 4. That which puts the *loose-woven minde into a whirling tempest.
1901. Kath. Steuart, By Allan Water, x. 275. Their webs of loose-woven cloth.
a. 1720. Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Wks. (1753), I. 76. The *loose writ libels of this age.
