Word Direct Answers

What does "loose" mean?

Loose: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.
  2. 3.Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of loose texture. With horse and chariots ranked in loose array. Milton.
  3. 4.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.
  4. 5.Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right. The loose morality which he had learned. Sir W. Scott.
  5. 6.Unconnected; rambling. Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages. I. Watts.
  6. 7.Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. Locke.
  7. 8.Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman. Loose ladies in delight. Spenser.
  8. 9.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.
  9. 10.Freedom from restraint. [Obs.] Prior.
  10. 11.A letting go; discharge. B. Jonson. To give a loose, to give freedom. Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow. Addison.
  11. 12.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.
  12. 13.Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me. Matt. xxi.
  13. 14.2. 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.
  14. 15.Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matt. xvi.
  15. 16.3. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict. The joints of his loins were loosed. Dan. v.
  16. 17.4. To solve; to interpret. [Obs.] Spenser.
  17. 18.To set sail. [Obs.] Acts xiii. 13.

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