LOOSE, v.t. loos. [Gr.; Heb.]

1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not fastened or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.
2. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.
3. Not crowded; not close or compact. With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array. – Milton.
4. Not dense, close or compact; as, a cloth or fossil of loose texture.
5. Not close; not concise; lax; as, a loose and diffuse style.
6. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose way of reasoning.
7. Not strict or rigid; as, a loose observance of rites.
8. Unconnected; rambling; as, a loose indigested play. Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages. – Watts.
9. Of lax bowels. – Locke.
10. Unengaged; not attached or enslaved. Their prevailing principle is, to sit as loose from pleasures, and be as moderate in the use of them as they can. – Atterbury.
11. Disengaged; free from obligation; with from or of. Now I stand / Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thought? – Addison. [Little used.]
12. Wanton; unrestrained in behavior; dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.
13. Containing unchaste language; as, a loose epistle. – Dryden. To break loose, to escape from confinement; to gain liberty by violence. Dryden. To get loose, to free from restraint or confinement; to set at liberty. – Locke.

Freedom from restraint; liberty. Come, give thy soul a loose. – Dryden. Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow. – Addison. We use this word only in the phrase, give a loose. The following use of it, “he runs with an unbounded loose,” is obsolete. – Prior.

To set sail; to leave a port or harbor. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga, in Pamphylia. Acts xiii.

1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening. Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? – Job xxxviii. Ye shall and an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them to me. Matth. xxi.
2. To relax. The joints of his loins were loosed. – Dan. v.
3. To release from imprisonment; to liberate; to set at liberty. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed. – Is. li.
4. To free from obligation. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. – 1 Cor. vii.
5. To free from any thing that binds or shackles; as, a man loosed from lust and pelf. – Dryden.
6. To relieve; to free from any thing burdensome or afflictive. Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. – Luke xiii.
7. To disengage; to detach; as, to loose one's hold.
8. To put off. Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. – Josh. v.
9. To open. Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? Rev. v.
10. To remit; to absolve. Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Matth. xvi.

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. Freedom from restraint.
   
   
   [Obs.] Prior.
3. 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.

4. To set sail.
   
   
   [Obs.] Acts xiii. 13.
5. 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.

6. A letting go; discharge.
   
   
   B. Jonson.

   To give a loose, to give freedom.

   Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow. Addison.

7. 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.

8. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.
9. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.
   
   

   The joints of his loins were loosed. Dan. v. 6.

10. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of loose texture.
    
    

    With horse and chariots ranked in loose array. Milton.

11. To solve; to interpret.
    
    
    [Obs.] Spenser.
12. 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.

13. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right.
    
    

    The loose morality which he had learned. Sir W. Scott.

14. Unconnected; rambling.
    
    

    Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages. I. Watts.

15. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels.
    
    
    Locke.
16. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.
    
    

    Loose ladies in delight. Spenser.

17. 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.