Looser

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Loose \Loose\ (l[=oo]s), a. [Compar. {Looser} (l[=oo]s"[~e]r);
     superl. {Loosest}.] [OE. loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin
     to OD. loos, D. los, AS. le['a]s false, deceitful, G. los,
     loose, Dan. & Sw. l["o]s, Goth. laus, and E. lose. [root]127.
     See {Lose}, and cf. {Leasing} falsehood.]
     1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed,


        or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.
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              Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty,
        habit, etc.; -- with from or of.
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              Now I stand
              Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts ?
                                                    --Addison.
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     3. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.
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     4. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of
        loose texture.
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              With horse and chariots ranked in loose array.
                                                    --Milton.
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     5. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose
        style, or way of reasoning.
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              The comparison employed . . . must be considered
              rather as a loose analogy than as an exact
              scientific explanation.               --Whewel.
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     6. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to
        some standard of right.
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              The loose morality which he had learned. --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
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     7. Unconnected; rambling.
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              Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose
              and unconnected pages.                --I. Watts.
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     8. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. --Locke.
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     9. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.
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              Loose ladies in delight.              --Spenser.
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     10. Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language;
         as, a loose epistle. --Dryden.
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     {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.
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