King James Bible Dictionary

LOOSE, verb transitive loos. [Gr.; Heb.]

1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening.

Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? Job 38:31.

Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them to me. Matthew 21:2.

2. To relax.

The joints of his loins were loosed. Daniel 5:6.

3. To release from imprisonment; to liberate; to set at liberty.

The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed. Isaiah 51:14.

4. To free from obligation.

Art thou loosed from a wife? see not a wife. 1 Corinthians 7:27.

5. To free from any thing that binds or shackles; as a man loosed from lust and pelf.

6. To relieve; to free from any thing burdensome or afflictive.

Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. Acts 13:13.

7. To disengage; to detach; as, to loose one's hold.

8. To put off.

LOOSE thy shoe from off thy foot. Joshua 5:15.

9. To open.

Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? Revelation 5:2.

10. To remit; to absolve.

Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:19.

LOOSE, verb intransitive 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 13:13.

LOOSE, adjective

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.

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.

9. Of lax bowels.

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.

11. Disengaged; free from obligation; with from or of.

Now I stand loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thought? [Little used.]

12. Wanton; unrestrained in behavior; dissolute; unchaste; as a loose man or woman.

13. Containing unchaste language; as a loose epistle.

To break loose to escape from confinement; to gain liberty by violence.

To let loose to free from restraint or confinement; to set at liberty.

LOOSE, noun Freedom from restraint; liberty.

Come, give thy soul a loose

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

We use this word only in the phrase, give a loose The following use of it, 'he runs with an unbounded loose ' is obsolete.

LOOS'ED, participle passive Untied; unbound; freed from restraint.

LOOSELY, adverb loos'ly.

1. Not fast; not firmly; that may be easily disengaged; as things loosely tied or connected.

2. Without confinement.

Her golden locks for haste were loosely shed about her ears.

3. Without union or connection.

Part loosely wing the region.

4. Irregularly; not with the usual restraints.

A bishop living loosely was charged that his conversation was not according to the apostle's lives.

5. Negligently; carelessly; heedlessly; as a mind loosely employed.

6. Meanly; slightly.

A prince should not be so loosely studied, as to remember so weak a composition.

7. Wantonly; dissolutely; unchastely.

LOOS'EN, verb transitive loos'n. [from loose.]

1. To free from tightness, tension, firmness or fixedness; as, to loosen a string when tied, or a knot; to loosen a joint; to loosen a rock in the earth.

2. To render less dense or compact; as, to loosen the earth about the roots of a tree.

3. To free from restraint.

It loosens his hands and assists his understanding.

4. To remove costiveness from; to facilitate or increase alvine discharges.

Fear looseneth the belly.

LOOS'EN, verb intransitive To become loose; to become less tight, firm or compact.

LOOS'ENED, participle passive Freed from tightness or fixedness; rendered loose.

LOOSENESS, noun loos'ness.

1. The state of being loose or relaxed; a state opposite to that of being tight, fast, fixed or compact; as the looseness of a cord; the looseness of a robe; the looseness of the skin; the looseness of earth, or of the texture of cloth.

2. The state opposite to rigor or rigidness; laxity; levity; as looseness of morals or of principles.

3. Irregularity; habitual deviation from strict rules; as looseness of life.

4. Habitual lewdness; unchastity.

5. Flux from the bowels; diarrhaea.

LOOS'ENING, participle present tense Freeing from tightness, tension or fixedness; rendering less compact.

LOOSESTRIFE, noun loos'strife. In botany, the name of several species of plants, of the genera Lysimachia, Epilobium, Lythrum, and Gaura.