Loose (?), a. [Compar. Looser (?); superl. Loosest.] [OE. loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin to OD. loos, D. los, AS. le�xa0;s false, deceitful, G. los, loose, Dan. & Sw. los, 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.
© Webster 1913.
Loose, n. 1. Freedom from restraint. [Obs.]
Prior.
2. A letting go; discharge.
B. Jonson.
To give a loose, to give freedom.
Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow.
Addison.
© Webster 1913.
Loose (?), v. n. [imp. & p. p. Loosed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Loosing.] [From Loose, a.] 1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.
Canst thou . . . loose the bands of Orion ?
Job. xxxviii. 31.
Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me.
Matt. xxi. 2.
2. To release from anything obligatory or burdensome; to disengage; hence, to absolve; to remit.
Art thou loosed from a wife ? seek not a wife.
1 Cor. vii. 27.
Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matt. xvi. 19.
3. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.
The joints of his loins were loosed.
Dan. v. 6.
4. To solve; to interpret. [Obs.]
Spenser.
© Webster 1913.
Loose, v. i. To set sail. [Obs.]
Acts xiii. 13.
© Webster 1913. | 
