Etymologically
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loose

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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

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