Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Loose

Loose (los) , adjective

[Old English loos, lous, laus, Icelandic lauss; akin to OD. loos, Dutch los, Anglo-Saxon leás false, deceitful, German los, loose, Danish & Swedish los, Gothic laus, and English lose. r127. See Lose, and compare 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. — Shakespeare
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
Collocations (5)
At loose ends , not in order; in confusion; carelessly managed.
Fast and loose , See under Fast.
To break loose , See under Break.
Loose pulley (Machinery) , See Fast and loose pulleys, under Fast.
To let loose , to free from restraint or confinement; to set at liberty.

Loose , noun

1.
Freedom from restraint. [Obsolete] — Prior
2.
A letting go; discharge. — B. Jonson
Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow. — Addison
Collocations (1)
To give a loose , to give freedom.

Loose (los) , v. n.

[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. [Obsolete] — Spenser

Loose , intransitive verb

To set sail. [Obsolete] — Acts xiii. 13