Loose (lo͞os), a. [Compar.Looser (?); superl.Loosest.] [OE. loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin to OD. loos, D. los, AS. leás false, deceitful, G. los, loose, Dan. & Sw. lös, Goth. laus, and E. lose. √127. 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.