Loosely

adv. Forms: 4 loselyche, lousely, 4–5 logeliche, 5 losly, 5–6 losely, 6 lowslie, lowsel(e)y, lously, loocely, loos(e)lye, 7 loosly, 6– loosely. [f. LOOSE a. + -LY².] In a loose manner.

  1.  Not tightly, slackly; without tightness, closeness, rigidity or cohesion. Also fig.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 82. Bynde it [a ligature] losely at þe mouþ of þe wounde. Ibid., 146. Þe seuenþe is bounde loseliche to þe first spondile.

c. 1440.  Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), I. xii. The more þat this desyre is the faster is Iesu knytte to the soule: The lesse that this desyre is þe loslyer is he knytte.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 37. It is a worlde to see how lowsely they shall be sowed,… euerie stitch an inch or two from another.

1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 26 b/2. It fasteneth the gummes vnto the teethe, when as they hange looselye theron.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VII. 425. Part loosly wing the Region, part more wise In common, rang’d in figure wedge thir way.

1811.  Latham, Facts conc. Diabetes, 97. Matters capable of such fermentation … have their sugar so weakly and loosely oxygenated as to be again readily evolved by the secretory action of the kidnies.

1842.  Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 64. Articles of wool which were so loosely manufactured, that they could be easily converted again into wool.

1860.  B. Jowett, in Ess. & Rev., 389. In modern times … all languages sit loosely on thought.

1878.  Browning, La Saisiaz, 81. Not so loosely thoughts were linked, Six weeks since.

  2.  Without care, strictness or rigor; not strictly; carelessly, negligently, laxly. Said esp. of thought or its expression.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 213. For he is in þe lowest of heuene … And wel loselyche lolleth þere by þe lawe of holy-cherche.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 163. But Emme lousely i-kept [L. laxius custodita], wroot unto þe bisshoppis of Engelond.

1566.  Drant, Horace’s Sat., II. i. E vij b. Some thynke my satyres too to tarte to kepe no constant lawe, And some have thought it lously pende.

1638.  R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. III.), 6. Though you write nothing loosly, yet you write nothing with streyning.

1647.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 106. The … revenue had been very loosely managed.

1793.  Beddoes, in Observ. Nature Demonstr. Evid., 133. I have already loosely observed, that their system supposes [etc.].

1824.  Scott, Fam. Lett., 14 Nov. (1894), II. xx. 222. All men talk loosely in their ordinary conversation.

1838.  Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), I. Introd. 19. The laws were often loosely administered by incompetent judges.

1885.  Leeds Mercury, 31 Jan., 6/5. The ideas thus loosely expressed.

1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 448. In this country the word ‘stammering’ is used loosely for all forms of speech defect.

  3.  Without moral strictness; immorally.

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. xi. 20–24. Ye be not geuen to riot and excesse so openly and loosly.

1605.  Camden, Rem., Wise Sp., 188. In this age when a Bishop living loosely was charged that his conversation was not according to the Apostles lives, he [etc.].

1699.  Dryden, in Four C. Eng. Lett., 140. Licence which Mrs. Behn allow’d herself, of writing loosely, and giving … some scandall to the modesty of her sex.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 36. He was … a far more dangerous enemy of the Church than … if he had … lived as loosely as Wilmot.

  4.  Without being confined or restrained. Now rare.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 51. Her golden locks for hast were loosely shed About her eares.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, XXI. 437. Ioues wife could put on no such raines, But spake thus loosly.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Poet. Misc., 75. Or as the hairs which deck their wanton heads, Which loosely fly, and play with every winde.

1635–56.  Cowley, Davideis, III. 261. The wind admir’d, which her hair loosely bore, Why it grew stiff, and now would play no more.

1818.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, X. xxv. Sheathed in resplendent arms, or loosely dight To luxury.

1892.  Tennyson, Akbar’s Dream. And what are forms? Fair garments, plain or rich, and fitting close Or flying looselier.

  5.  With free evacuation of the bowels.

1612.  Dekker, If it be not Good, Wks. 1873, III. 288. Your guilded pills … slip so smoothly doune Your Subiects throates, that all (vpon a sudden) Are loosely giuen.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 741. If the bowels are only opened once loosely he takes but one dose.

  6.  Comb. (with ppl. adjs.), as loosely adherent, -branched, -fitting, -packed, -woven etc.

1746.  J. Warton, Ode to Fancy, 9. O Nymph, with loosely-flowing hair.

1862.  H. Spencer, First Princ., II. xix. § 149 (1875), 403. Not unfrequently a piece of trap [rock] may be found reduced … to a number of loosely-adherent coats, like those of an onion.

1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 299. A loosely-branched tree.

1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 903. [Bacilli] occasionally in loosely packed bundles.