Forms: 1 losian, 2–3 losie(n, 5 Sc. loyse, 5–6 losse, Sc. lois(s, 5, Sc. 6– loss, 5–8 loose, 6 Sc. los, loce, (loase, 7 loze), 3– lose. Pa. t. 1 losode, -ade, 1–3 -ede, 4 Sc. losit, 4–6 loste, Sc. lossit, -yt, 6 Sc. loissit, loussit, (7 loosed, losed), 3– lost. Pa. pple. 1 (ʓe)losod, -ad, 3 ilosed, -et, 3–5 ilost, 4 losed, 4–5 i-, ylost(e, 4–6 loste, (Sc. losit, -yt, 5–6 loissit, lossit, -yt, 6 loist, loseit, 7 loissed), 3– lost. [OE. losian, f. los LOSS, used almost exclusively intr. (sense 1); sometimes with indirect obj. in dative, as me losode hit = I lost it. The transitive use, which occurs twice in Northumbrian and appears in general use early in 13th c., seems to have arisen partly from interchange of function between the indirect obj. and the subj. where these were not distinguishable by case-form (cf. LIKE v., LATHE v.), and partly from the perfect conjugated with be (OE. hit is ʓelosod = it is lost), which admits of being apprehended as passive. The later sense-development of the vb. has been influenced by the cognate LEESE v., with which it became synonymous, and which it in the end superseded.
The regular mod. Eng. pronunciation repr. OE. losian would be (lōuz); the standard Eng. pronunciation (lūz) seems to be due to association with LOOSE v., which in some contexts (e.g., to loose hold) closely approaches this vb. in meaning. Many dialects have the phonetic form normally descending from the OE. vb. The Sc. form loss is prob. evolved from the pa. t. and pa. pple. lost.]
† 1. intr. To perish; also, to be lost or missing.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxi. § 2. Swa swa seo beo sceal losian þon heo hwæt irringa stingð. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past., xxx. 205. Ðætte nu foraldod is ðæt is forneah losad.
a. 1175. Cott. Hom., 245. Forþan þe ic imete mi sceap þe me losede.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 117. Þenne losiað fele saulen.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 907. Þer lyuez lyste may neuer lose.
† 2. trans. To destroy, ruin, bring to destruction or perdition; to be the ruin of. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xvii. 27. And cuom Þæt flod & losade vel spilde alle.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 909. Alle þe londe with þise ledez we losen at-onez.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 49. Þe kyng … sent his ostis and loste þese mansleeris.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, iii. 23. Þou schalt haue als manye peynes as þou hast loste soules!
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, lxxxiv. G viij. The fyre sprang oute and loste his hand.
1538. Bale, God’s Promises, II. (1744), 11. Lose hym not yet, Lorde, though he hath depely sworved.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. 845. Lest heat, wet, wind, should roste, or rot, or lose it.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 205. What to our selues in passion we propose, The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
1628. trans. Mathieu’s Powerfull Favorite, 122, marg. We ought not proudly to despise prodegies, this neglect lost Alexander.
b. To ruin in estimation. rare.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. i. 236. Such a tongue, That I am glad I haue not, though not to haue it, Hath lost me in your liking.
1677. Sedley, Ant. & Cl., V. i. Wks. (1766), 191. ’Twas I that lost you in each Roman mind.
1882. J. C. Morison, Macaulay, ii. 43–4. His want of aspiration, of all effort to rise into the higher regions of thought, has lost him in the opinion of many readers.
c. pass. To be brought to destruction, ruin or misery; to perish; to be killed; in a spiritual sense (of the soul), to be damned. Of a ship, its crew, passengers or cargo: To perish at sea.
[c. 897: see 1.]
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xxxvi. 99. Ichabbe be losed mony a day.
c. 1366. Chaucer, A. B. C., 152. I am wounded … Þat j am lost almost.
c. 1375. Cursor M., 6006 (Fairf.). Dede & loste was al þaire fe.
c. 1397. Chaucer, Lack Stedf., 7. Al is loste for lac of stedfastnesse.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 507. I trow nocht ȝeit at Wallace losyt be: Our clerkys sayis, he sall ger mony de.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xxi. 63. Yf ye speke to hym ye are lost for euer. Ibid. (a. 1533), Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), E vii b. To play at the tables and dice with suche as be lost and naught.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, V. i. 332. By this meanes God is dishonoured, and man lost in all parts by idolatry.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. i. 52. All lost, to prayers, to prayers, all lost.
1713. Addison, Cato, IV. i. 46. The Woman that Deliberates is lost.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 479. And is the soul indeed so lost!
1798. Monthly Mag., VI. 437 (Scotticisms). Poor man, he was lost in the river; drowned.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 921. The property insured was lost.
1861. J. A. Alexander, Gosp. Jesus Christ, xiii. 182. You are not in danger of perdition, but are lost already.
1885. Law Times Rep., LIII. 60/2. The vessel … sank in a short time, all hands being lost.
3. To incur the privation of (something that one possesses or has control of); to part with through negligence or misadventure; to be deprived of.
a. with obj. a material or immaterial possession, lands, goods, a right, quality, etc. † occas. with away, up, (? U.S. rare) out.
c. 1205. Lay., 29159. Þus losede Bruttes al þas kine-londes.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 272. Þou losis þi dignite.
1427. Waterf. Arch., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 295. The accusere shal losse his fraunches for ever.
a. 1470. Gregory, in Hist. Coll. Lond. Cit. (Camden), 189. That same yere was the most pa[r]te of Normandy y-loste.
14[?]. Childe of Bristowe, 402, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 125. Thu has played atte dice,… and lost up, sone, that thu had.
c. 1530. Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 6. He lost away and wasted … his londes and goodes.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., II. 66. In all, the Christians loosed but eleuen Gallies.
1779. Cowper, Yearly Distress, 55. One talks … of pigs that he has lost By maggots at the tail.
1869. H. Bushnell, New Life, viii. 110. The child brought up a thief gets an infinite power of cunning … and loses out just as much in the power of true perception.
1878. S. Walpole, Hist. Eng., II. 458. Sir Joseph Yorke told him that he would lose his place if he did not keep his temper.
b. with obj. a limb, a faculty, one’s life, etc.
To lose one’s head: see HEAD sb. 51. To lose heart: to become discouraged. To lose one’s heart: to fall in love. † To lose one’s breath: to die. To lose one’s legs (slang): to get drunk.
c. 1205. Lay., 25918. Hire lif heo losede sone.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 586. If he has losed the lysten.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), VII. 315. Makynge a statute that whosoever toke a beste þer scholde lose oon eie.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. ix. 130. Syr Arthur lost so moche blood that it was merueille he stode on his feet.
15[?]. in Lett. Roy. & Illustr. Ladies (1846), II. 4. She was like to have lost her mind.
1530. Palsgr., 429/2. I am spechelesse, as a sycke body is that hath lost the use of his speche.
1596. B. Griffin, Fidessa, vi. Oh better were I loose ten thousand breaths, Than euer liue in such vnseene disgrace.
1597. Bacon, Coulers Gd. & Evill (Arb.), 152. As to a monoculos it is more to loose one eye, then to a man that hath two eyes.
1633. Ford, Broken H., III. v. ’Tis long agone since first I lost my heart.
1671. Milton, Samson, 914. Though sight be lost, Life yet hath many solaces.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 60, ¶ 4. In a little Time after he lost his Senses.
1744. Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Sp. Rhodomontades, 186. As soon as They were dead, every one lost Heart, having lost their Chief Supports.
1749. Lavington, Enthus. Methodists & Papists, II. vi. (1752), 46. A religious Nun, devoted to St. Xavier, famed for Skill in Music and a fine Voice, had her Voice lost by a Hoarsness for ten Years.
1770. Gentl. Mag., XL. 569. To express the Condition of an Honest Fellow and no Flincher under the Effects of Good Fellowship, he is said to … [have] Lost his legs.
1804. G. Rose, Diaries (1860), II. 193. She … rode to Southampton, where she lost some blood.
1842. Tennyson, Edw. Gray, 3. And have you lost your heart?… And are you married yet?
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxvii. 253. She acquired an influence over the mind of the destitute child that she never lost.
c. With obj. a person: To be deprived of (a relative, friend, servant, etc.) by death, by local separation, or by severance of the relationship. Also, in somewhat specific sense, of a commander, an army: To suffer loss of (men) by death, capture, wounds, etc. Of a medical man: To fail to preserve the life of (a patient).
c. 1205. Lay., 5704. Heo loseden monie þusend godere monnen.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 78. We losten alle oure housbondes at that toun.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., v. 48. Why shuld I apon a day loyse both my sonnes?
1530. Palsgr., 749/2. The folysshe gyrle toke on for thought as if she had loste her father she coulde have done no more.
1722. De Foe, Moll Flanders (1840), 117. The apprehensions of losing such a friend.
1780. Westm. Mag., VIII. 249. The Resolution had the good luck to come up with the Prothée … and took her without losing a man.
1842. Browning, Waring, I. iv. How much I loved him, I find out now I’ve lost him.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, I. 256. When we came where lies the child We lost in other years.
1880. Wheeler, Short Hist. India, 604. The English had lost more than 2,400 officers and men.
1882. S. Wells, Ovar. & Uterine Tumours, 185. He [McDowell] lost only the last of his first five cases of ovariotomy.
1883. Howells, Woman’s Reason, II. xx. 176. She had lost her father, who died very suddenly a few days after he sailed.
1895. George, Battles Eng. Hist., 208. How disastrous was the repulse may be estimated from the fact that while Wellington lost about 1300 men, Massena lost considerably over three times that number.
d. To fail to maintain (a position, a state of mind or body), e.g., to lose patience, one’s temper, to lose caste, hold, one’s balance, etc. To lose ground: to fail to keep one’s position; esp. fig. to decline in reputation, favor, health, etc.
[1436: see GROUND sb. 11.]
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. ix. 131. But alweyes he helde vp his shelde and lost no ground nor bated no chere.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1590), 27. At length, the left winge of the Arcadians began to loose ground.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 53. How had they almost made me to lose my patience, and my judgement!
1640. trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., I. xvi. 68. They brake their staves bravely, without losing their saddles.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 838. They astonisht all resistance lost, All courage.
1712. W. Rogers, Voy., 291. A Current setting to Leeward, we rather lost than got ground.
1775. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 13 June. Boswell is a favourite but he has lost ground since I told them that he is married.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. IV. 379. Those suspicions were not likely to lose ground.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xi. Chuffey boggled over his plate so long, that Mr. Jonas, losing patience, took it from him at last.
1877. Spurgeon, Serm., XXIII. 320. He has lost caste and lost all ground of glorying.
e. occas. To cease to have, to get rid of (something undesirable, e.g., an ailment).
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 607. To loose In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe.
1677. Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 42. The Dutchesse hath had an ague in her lyeing inne but hath soone lost it.
1742. W. Collins, Hassan, 83. O! let me teach my heart to lose its fears.
1859. Mrs. Trevelyan, Lett., in Trevelyan, Life Macaulay (1876), II. xv. 477. Never, as long as I live, can I lose the sense of misery that I ever left him after Christmas day.
Mod. I have not yet lost my rheumatism.
f. Of a thing: To be deprived of or part with (a portion of itself, a quality, or appurtenance).
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 221. Þe day lost his coloure, & mirk was as þe nyght.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 288. Til that the brighte sonne loste his hewe.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. v. 239. This deceit looses the name of craft.
1629. Milton, Hymn Nativity, 99. The Air such pleasure loth to lose, With thousand echo’s still prolongs each heav’nly close.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 648. And have thy joys Lost nothing by comparison with ours?
1881. Le Conte, Sight, 51. When … the hypermetropic eye loses its power of adjustment.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, IV. x. 233. Her household duties had lost their interest.
† g. with cognate obj., to lose a loss. Also, to lose (= incur) a fine. Obs.
1498. Old City Acc. Bk., in Archæol. Jrnl., XLIII. Item for a fyne lost by John Stone … xxd.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxxvii. 109. The countrey of Bierne this hundred yere neuer loste suche a losse.
a. 1541. Wyatt, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 87. Graunt them good Lord,… To freate inward, for losyng such a losse.
1614. S. Ward, Lett., in Ussher’s Lett. (1686), 33. We have lost … a great loss by Mr. Casaubon’s untimely decease.
† h. with inf.: To be deprived of the power or opportunity (of doing something). Obs.
1616. B. Jonson, Forest, Ep. Lady Aubigny, 4. What th’ haue lost t’ expect, they dare deride.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 378. Though I have lost … To be belov’d of God, I have not lost To love.
i. The passive is often used without any reference to a determinate person or thing as ‘losing’; e.g., (of an art, etc.) to cease to be known or practised; (of a quality, etc.) to cease to be present. Cf. LOST ppl. a.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 429. This God-like act Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldst have dy’d, In sin for ever lost from life.
1670. Ray, Prov., 117. It’s not lost that comes at last. All is not lost that is in danger.
1700. Dryden, Fables, Pref. (Globe), 505. The name of its author being wholly lost.
1722. Quincy, Lex. Physico-Med. (ed. 2), 264/1. In all Percussions the Stroke is proportional to the Force lost.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Cowley (1821), I. 64. If what he thinks be true, that his numbers are unmusical only when they are ill-read, the art of reading them is at present lost.
1842. Tennyson, Morte Arth., 90. Surely a precious thing … Should thus be lost for ever from the earth.
1870. M. Arnold, St. Paul & Protestantism (1900), 69. From which [chapters] Paul’s whole theology, if all his other writings were lost, might be reconstructed.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 818. The quality of the voice may be unaltered or completely lost.
4. absol. or intr. To suffer loss; to cease to possess something; to be deprived of or part with some of his or its possessions, attributes or qualities; to become deteriorated or incur disadvantage.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 41. Ha beon eauer feard for to losen [elsewhere, and here in MS. Bodl. leosen].
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 336. Now want, now has; now loss, now can wyn.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. ii. 101. Thou shalt not loose by it.
1611. Bible, Eccl. iii. 6. A time to get, and a time to lose.
1643. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, iv. (1652), 75. There is nothing lost in being willing to lose for God.
1697. Dryden, Ded. Æneis, Ess. (ed. Ker), II. 229. Thus, by gaining abroad, he lost at home.
1838. Macaulay, Temple, Ess. (1887), 440. He never put himself prominently before the public eye, except at conjunctures when he was almost certain to gain and could not possibly lose.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xxvii. ’Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all..
1895. George, Battles Eng. Hist., 313. Fortunately the Sikhs had lost so severely that no evil consequences followed.
1898. Folk-Lore, Sept., 198. The other was undertaken by a publisher, who lost on it.
Mod. Both armies lost heavily.
b. Of an immaterial thing: To be deprived of its power or force. rare.
1794. Mrs. Piozzi, Synon., II. 56. Our authors plunder French comedies in vain; the humour loses and evaporates.
1900. R. J. Drummond, Relat. Apost. Teaching, i. 33. The words are only understood in their setting. They lose immensely when isolated.
† c. Const. of, with partitive sense. Obs.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. v. 163. Gold alwayes worn in the same purse with silver loses both of the colour and weight.
1753. A. Murphy, Gray’s-Inn Jrnl., No. 33. These Allurements soon began to lose of their Influence.
1791. Boswell, Johnson (1831), I. 86. Hawkins told him it would lose of its beauty if it were so published.
1802. Beddoes, Hygëia, V. 54. Every muscle, steeped in a heated medium, loses of its contractility.
5. To become, permanently or temporarily, unable to find in one’s own possession or custody; to cease to know the whereabouts of (a portable object, an animal, etc.) because it has strayed or gone unawares from one’s possession, or has simply been mislaid.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xv. 4. ʓif forlorað vel losað enne of ðæm.
1382. Wyclif, Luke xv. 4. What man of ȝou that hath an hundrid scheep, and if he hath lost oon of hem [etc.].
c. 1422. Hoccleve, Jonathas, 318. Y haue a fere … thow woldest it leese, As thow lostist my ryng.
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 37. My Sone was loste, and now is found.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. i. 23. Like a Schoole-boy that had lost his A. B. C.
1655. trans. Com. Hist. Francion, VII. 12. We demanded if they had not taken up a hawk which we had lost.
1718. Prior, Dove, 8. Venus wept the sad disaster Of having lost her favourite dove.
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 110. She told me Mr. B——n had lost his Hat.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 179. Since her horse was lost I left her mine.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 5. Humanity had lost its title-deeds and he had recovered them.
b. To fail to keep in sight. Also, to lose sight of (lit. and fig.): see SIGHT. Also occas., to cease to hear (poet.); † to fail to follow (a person) in argument (obs. or arch.).
1587. Ianes, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1600), III. 111. The Master … was afrayd his men would shape some contrary course while he was asleepe, and so he should lose vs.
a. 1592. H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 349. This is our life while we enjoy it, we lose it like the Sunne which flies swifter than an arrow, and yet no man perceives that it moves.
1628. Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 3. If wee should chance at any time to loose each other, vpon sight againe [etc.].
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 11. Wee once more got sight of the Carracke, and lost her for euer, in two houres after.
1640. Shirley, Constant Maid, IV. F 2 b. I cannot see i’ th’ darke with spectacles, And mine owne eyes ha’ lost him o’ the suddaine.
1725. Wodrow Corr. (1843), III. 173. I thought, upon infinity, he was running into Sir Isaac Newton’s notion of infinite space being the divine sensorium,… but, indeed, many times I lost him.
1833. Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., 245. Losing her carol I stood pensively.
c. To draw away from, be no longer near or among; to leave hopelessly behind in a race.
1704. Pope, Autumn, 60. Here where the mountains less’ning as they rise Lose the low vales, and steal into the skies.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. v. 180. We did not lose them [flying-fish] on the coast of Brazil, till we approached the southern tropic.
1886. Sir F. H. Doyle, Remin., 63. Where his great stride and iron legs would have enabled him, in the language of the turf, to lose his antagonist.
† d. To fail to retain in the mind or memory; to forget. Also said of the mind or memory. To lose it that...: to forget that. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 556/1. I forget, I have loste a thynge out of remembraunce.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 114. Being ouerfull of selfe-affaires, My minde did lose it. Ibid. (1592), Ven. & Ad., 408. The lesson is but plaine, And once made perfect, neuer lost again.
1612. Dekker, If it be not Good, Wks. 1873, III. 299. My memorie had quite lost you.
1613. Shaks., etc., Hen. VIII., II. i. 57. Heare what I say, and then goe home and lose me.
16[?]. Milton, Ps. lxxxiii. 16. That Israels name for ever may Be lost in memory.
1703. Rowe, Fair Penit., V. i. Here let Remembrance lose our past Misfortunes.
1712. S. Sewall, Diary, 11 April. Had quite lost it that the Meeting was at Mr. Stoddard’s.
[1870. M. Arnold, St. Paul & Protestantism (1900), 148. Who can ever lose out of his memory the roll and march of those magnificent words of prophecy?]
e. To cease to follow (the right track); also, to cease to find (traces of a person, etc.). Chiefly in to lose one’s way (lit. and fig.). † Of a river: To diverge from (its channel).
1530. Palsgr., 771/1. I wander, as one dothe that hath loste his waye.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., I. viii. 20. They had willingly lost their course.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., II. 94. Nor is it a thing extraordinary for riuers to lose their channels.
1709. Prior, Chloe Hunting, 3. She lost her way, And thro’ the Woods uncertain chanc’d to stray.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 373. Pepys and his wife, travelling in their own coach, lost their way between Newbury and Reading.
1893. Fam. Herald, 132/1. After she had walked a little farther, she lost trail altogether.
† f. To allow to escape from one’s power or influence. Obs.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 378. Instead of prevailing on the Prince, he lost him so entirely, that all his endeavours afterwards could never beget any confidence in him.
g. To let slip one’s knowledge of (a language).
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 16 March. I am in great danger of losing my English.
6. To spend unprofitably or in vain; to waste, get no return or result for (one’s labor or efforts); to let slip (opportunities) without using them to good purpose; to waste (time).
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxvi. 20. Suffre that thou suffirs for god and of god, for wa is þaim þat losis suffrynge.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 1700 (1749). Lest tyme I loste, I dar not with yow dele.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5153. Fully on me she lost hir lore.
c. 1450. Merlin, 6. And so shold ye loose youre tyme.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XVIII. xvi. 754. She is not the fyrst that hath loste her payn vpon yow.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxvi. 13. The leill labour lost, and leill seruice.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 26. Now to loose no more time about this point, I saie vnto you, yt [etc.].
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 24. But, when she saw her prayers nought prevaile Shee backe retourned with some labour lost.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 12. All your labour past and to come about an Orchard is lost vnlesse you fence well.
1632. Sanderson, Twelve Serm., 233. True zeale … will not loose the opportunity of doing what it ought, for waiting till others beginne.
1634. Milton, Comus, 271. Ill is lost that praise That is addrest to unattending Ears.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 127. Fall to, you know Half an Hour is soon lost at Dinner.
1770. Foote, Lame Lover, II. Wks. 1799, II. 80. The constables will be here in a trice, so you have not a moment to lose.
1819. Crabbe, T. of Hall, IX. How much she grieved to lose the given day In dissipation wild, in visitation gay.
1847. Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, v. There is no time to be lost.
1896. G. Boothby, In Strange Comp., II. vi. 55/1. A … fellow who never lost a chance of making himself objectionable.
b. To be lost on or upon: to have no effect upon, to fail to influence.
1610. Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 190. On whom my paines Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost.
[1692. Burnet, Past. Care, ix. 111. Niceties of Style are lost before a common Auditory.]
1697. Dryden, Æneid, XI. 1059. Thir Stratagems, and Tricks of little Hearts Are lost on me.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, xi. 131. Your kindness is not lost upon me.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, I. iii. I. 32. Nothing, however, was ever lost upon Lord Monmouth. No one had a more retentive memory, or a more observant mind.
1900. J. A. H. Murray, Evolution Eng. Lexicogr., 5–6. The real humour of the situation, which was unfortunately lost upon the House of Commons, was, [etc.].
7. To fail to obtain (something one might have had): occas. const. to. Also, to fail to catch (a train, etc.). † To lose aim: to miss one’s mark.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 185. He schal lese [MS. γ luse] hevene þat wil hem take awey.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 153. Adam for Pride loste his pris.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., iii. 363. Wheder I lose or I wyn In fayth, thi felowship.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 141 b. Meanyng not to lose so great a prey.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., I. iv. 78. Our doubts are traitors And makes vs loose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 71. Shall I do that which all the Parthian Darts, (Though Enemy) lost ayme, and could not.
1611. Bible, Matt. x. 42. Hee shall in no wise lose his reward.
1632. Massinger, Maid of Honour, V. i. (1632), K 2. Cam. … If you forsweare your selfes wee shall not prosper. I’ll rather lose my longing.
1650. Baxter, Saint’s R., iv. (1656), 132. Where God loses his praise, man will certainly lose his comforts.
1711. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 12 May. Mr. Secretary … brought me to our town’s end in his coach: So I lost my walk.
1775. Harris, Philos. Arrangem., Wks. (1841), 339. The swift-footed Salius lost the prize to young Euryalus.
1830. J. Jekyll, Corr. (1894), 256. Rather than lose her legacy, she hung him on to the window bar.
1884. Congregationalist, June, 493. I once nearly lost a train on account of it.
1900. F. Anstey, Brass Bottle, ii. 22. ‘A guinea. For the last time. You’ll lose it, sir,’ said the auctioneer to the little man.
b. To fail to apprehend by sight or hearing; not to ‘catch’ (words, points of a discourse).
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. i. 32. Then go we neare her that her eare loose nothing.
1604. E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. vii. 97. Being too farre off from any thing, wee loose the sight, and too neere likewise, we cannot see it.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 599. Fearing each to lose Some note of Nature’s music from his lips.
Mod. I did not lose a word of his speech.
† c. To fail to attend; to ‘miss.’ Obs.
Also formerly at Cambridge University, To lose one’s week: not to be allowed to count towards the obligatory number of weeks of residence a week in which the required number of chapels had not been kept.
1711. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 4 Aug. I lost church to-day.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, Prol. 161. They lost their weeks; they vext the souls of deans.
d. Hunting. To fail to catch (an animal).
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 68 b. I had rather (as they say lose the Hare) then to take such infinite paines as to hunt so farre for hir.
1883. Ld. Saltoun, Scraps, I. 104. The greyhounds took up the chase, and either killed or lost her.
8. To be deprived of (something) in a contest or game; to forfeit (a stake); hence, to be defeated in (a game, battle, lawsuit); to fail to carry (a motion). Also in Cricket: To have (a wicket) taken by an opponent. Const. to.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, liii. 18. She lost ye game wherof Huon was ioyfull.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 210. Foughte a battell in Piedmont, with the Frenchemen … and lost the felde.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 538. While we reason here, A Royall battell might be wonne and lost. Ibid. (1607), Cor., I. vii. 4. If we loose the field, We cannot keepe the Towne.
1671. Lady M. Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 22. Wee play sometimes at trante a courante where my old ill lucke follows mee to loose my money.
1710. Act 9 Anne, c. 19 § 2. Any Person or Persons … who shall at any Time or sitting by playing at Cards … lose to any One or more … Persons … the Sum … of Ten Pounds.
1799. H. K. White, Lett. to bro. Neville. The Corporation versus Gee, which we … lost.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Our Parish, iv. The motion was lost by a majority of two.
1843. Blackw. Mag., LIV. 171. I lost my wicket to the first ball.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VI. 9. When our side was vanquish’d and my cause For ever lost.
1872. Punch, 27 Jan., 41/2. We never lost a game to a professional at billiards without hearing him assign his triumph chiefly to his flukes.
1885. Manch. Exam., 10 July, 5/1. The Southerners had scored 78 without losing a wicket.
b. absol. To be defeated; also, to forfeit money by defeat in a game.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 116. Accordyng to the chaance of war, the one part gat, and the other lost.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 730. A captiue victor that hath lost in gaine. Ibid. (1605), Lear, V. iii. 15. Who looses, and who wins; who’s in, who’s out.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 21. Their game was Primera…; my mother, shee got the money, for my father was willing to lose to her.
1669. Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 11. I heere your horse hath lost.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 198. She lost at one Sitting to the Tune of a hundred Guineas.
1822. Shelley, Calderon’s Magico Prodig., i. 151. The battle’s loss may profit those who lose.
1885. O. W. Holmes, Jr., in Law Q. Rev., April, 172. Tacitus says that the Germans would gamble their personal liberty and pay with their persons if they lost.
9. Causal senses. a. To cause the loss of: often const. dative of the person suffering loss.
1428. Waterf. Arch., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 295. Whatt ever man … bringe warre upon the citie whereby they bene prayed and losid thair goods.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. i. 187. Pride, Haughtinesse [etc.],… The least of which, haunting a Nobleman, Loseth mens hearts. Ibid. (1602), Ham., I. iii. 76. Lone oft loses both it selfe and friend. Ibid. (1605), Lear, I. i. 125.
a. 1611. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, IV. iv. I pray that this action loose not Philaster the hearts of the people.
1640–1. Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855), 76. If they [shoes] come not with expedition the want of thame will lose all our sogers.
1699. Wotton, Lett., in Bentley, Phal., Pref. 12. I did not think that a sufficient reason, why I should lose that Treatise to the World.
1763. Hoyle, Whist, 25. Do not overtrump him, which may probably lose you two or three Tricks.
1803. J. Marshall, Const. Opin. (1839), 8. A loss of the commission would lose the office.
1871. Freeman, Hist. Ess., Ser. I. vii. 195. The crimes of John lost him all the northern part of his French possessions.
† b. To cause (a person) to ‘lose his way’; to bewilder. Obs.
1648. Eikon Bas., xvi. 157. Nor are constant Formes of Prayers more likely to flat, and hinder the Spirit of prayer,… then un-premeditated and confused uariety to distract, and lose it.
1692. S. Patrick, Answ. Touchstone, 15. He only endeavours to lose his Reader in a mist of Words.
† c. ? To cause to be forgotten. Obs.
1667. Dryden, Tempest, IV. iv. Have fifteen years so lost me to your knowledge, That you retain no memory of Prospero?
1724. Wodrow Corr. (1843), III. 130. It requires a much better memory than mine to resume such long work, and one harangue loses the former to me.
† d. To reject (a bill in parliament). Obs.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 26 July. A Bill for the Lord’s day, which it seems the Lords have lost, and so cannot be passed.
10. refl. (with corresponding passive).
a. To lose one’s way, go astray. Also fig.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxviii[i]. 176. I go astraye as a shepe that is lost.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., IV. iv. (1602), 390. The hearer would be many times lost, before I shoulde come to the end.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 14. But to what end goe I to loose my selfe in the intricate labirinth of the abuses & disorders of our time.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. ii. 174. Like one lost in a Thornie Wood.
1604. E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, I. xxi. 69. They must of necessitie loose themselves, having no knowledge where they were.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 9. I love to lose my selfe in a mystery.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 561. In wandring mazes lost.
1780. J. Harris, Philol. Enq., Wks. (1841), 484. Arabian poetry is so immense a field, that he who enters it is in danger of being lost.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 225. O’er these waste downs whereon I lost myself.
b. To lose one’s (or its) identity; to become merged (in something else). lit. and fig.
1604. E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. vi. 93. Ten great rivers which loose themselves entring into that Lake.
1781. J. Moore, View Soc. It. (1790), I. xli. 445. The Via Sacra was a street leading to the Forum, and lost in it.
1796. Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., vii. (1813), 195. All surprise was shortly lost in other feelings.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Detached Th. on Bks. & Read. I love to lose myself in other men’s minds.
1871–4. Hort, The Way, etc. ii. (1894), 62. By the Resurrection and Ascension His Apostleship had been visibly lost in His Sonship.
c. To become deeply absorbed or engrossed (in thought, etc.); to be bewildered, overwhelmed (in wonder); † to be distracted, lose one’s wits (from emotion or excitement).
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, V. v. 339. They were lost in their own imaginations and conceipts.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 71. Be not lost So poorely in your thoughts. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 121. These strong Egyptian Fetters I must breake, Or loose my selfe in dotage.
1626. Shirley, Maid’s Rev., IV. i. (1639), G 2 b. I almost lose my selfe In joy to meete him.
1728. Addison, Hymn, ‘When all thy mercies.’ Transported with the view, I’m lost In wonder, love, and praise.
1798. Landor, Gebir, I. 97. I neither feed the flock nor watch the fold; How can I, lost in love?
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., III. i. (1820), 153. As I pace the darkened chamber and lose myself in melancholy musings.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 231. He seemed to be lost in the contemplation of something great.
1890. Hall Caine, Bondman, III. vi. Her voice was low at first, but she soon lost herself, and then it rose above the other voices.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 239. For a time they become lost and dazed.
d. To become hidden from view, obscured (in clouds, etc.).
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VIII. 79. When the setting Stars are lost in Day.
1725. Pope, Odyss., VII. 354. Woody mountains half in vapours lost.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 194. Rills that … lose themselves at length In matted grass.
1845. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 11. A vast ocean of tillage … losing itself in the vapour of the distant horizon.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, I. 227. A pillar’d porch, the bases lost In laurel.
† e. Of water: To leak away. Obs.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 189. The Vials … are joined to the Pipes with Wax or Mastick, so that the Water rises into the Vials, without losing itself any where. Ibid., 194. Gravel, or Sand-Stone, upon which the Water will run without losing itself.
11. Comb., with sense ‘one who or something that loses…,’ as † lose-all, † -office; so † lose-time a., time-wasting.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, I. xxv. (1632), 78. Jugling tricks, or other idle lose-time sports.
1623. Penkethman, Handf. Hon., IV. xlii. More loue to purchase, each good turne requite, Lest a Loose-office thou be termed right.
1650. W. Brough, Sacr. Princ. (1659), 220. The third [heir] is commonly a lose-all.
