loose

Pronunciation

• IPA: /luːs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lous, loos, borrowed from Old Norse lauss (“loose, free; dissolute”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *lausaz,^[2][5] the source also of German los and Gothic laus “empty”,^[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”).^[2] The Old Norse word is cognate with Old English lēas, the source of -less, and it is related to lose and loss.^[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not securely fixed: the early 13th century in Etymonline, probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle in Barnhart.^[2][3] Free from bonds, unbound, is from about 1300 (before 1300 in the OED).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Of clothes, slack, is from the mid-15th century,^[2] and not bundled from the late 15th.^[2] The sense “unchaste, immoral” is from the late 15th century (about 1470).^[2][6] Not careful or exact is from the 17th century,^[5] and rambling, disconnected, from the 1680s.^[2] A loose end is from the 1540s, on the loose from 1749, and at loose ends from 1807.^[2] Loose cannon is from the late 19th century.^[6] The verb, to set free or untie, is from about 1200, and of arrows from about 1400.^[2]

Timeline

• early 13th century – not fixed.^[2]
• c. 1200 – verb, to set free.^[2]
• late 15th century – immoral.^[2]
• 1540s – a loose end.^[2]
• 1680s – rambling.^[2]
• 1749 – on the loose.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not firmly fixed or fastened.
2. Free from confinement.
3. Of clothes, not fitting tightly.
4. Not tied or packed together.
5. Not exact: a loose translation.
6. (dated) Sexually immoral.

Verb

1. To set free or untie.
2. To shoot an arrow or missile.

Word family

• loosely
• looseness
• footloose
• loose-fitting
• loose-leaf
• loosen
• loose-tongued
• overloose

Related words

• forlorn
• lyo-
• ly-
• -lysis
• lysis
• lose
• loss
• -less

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press