loose

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

• adj. Not fastened, restrained, or contained: loose bricks.
• adj. Not taut, fixed, or rigid: a loose anchor line; a loose chair leg.
• adj. Free from confinement or imprisonment; unfettered: criminals loose in the neighborhood; dogs that are loose on the streets.
• adj. Not tight-fitting or tightly fitted: loose shoes.
• adj. Not bound, bundled, stapled, or gathered together: loose papers.
• adj. Not compact or dense in arrangement or structure: loose gravel.
• adj. Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; idle: loose talk.
• adj. Not formal; relaxed: a loose atmosphere at the club.
• adj. Lacking conventional moral restraint in sexual behavior.
• adj. Not literal or exact: a loose translation.
• adj. Characterized by a free movement of fluids in the body: a loose cough; loose bowels.
• adv. In a loose manner.
• transitive v. To let loose; release: loosed the dogs.
• transitive v. To make loose; undo: loosed his belt.
• transitive v. To cast loose; detach: hikers loosing their packs at camp.
• transitive v. To let fly; discharge: loosed an arrow.
• transitive v. To release pressure or obligation from; absolve: loosed her from the responsibility.
• transitive v. To make less strict; relax: a leader's strong authority that was loosed by easy times.
• intransitive v. To become loose.
• intransitive v. To discharge a missile; fire.
• idiom on the loose At large; free.
• idiom on the loose Acting in an uninhibited fashion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

• v. To let loose, to free from restraints.
• v. To unfasten, to loosen.
• v. To make less tight, to loosen.
• v. Of a grip or hold, to let go.
• v. to shoot (an arrow)
• v. To set sail.
• adj. Not fixed in place tightly or firmly.
• adj. Not held or packaged together.
• adj. Not under control.
• adj. Not fitting closely
• adj. Not compact.
• adj. Relaxed.
• adj. Indiscreet.
• adj. Free from moral restraint; immoral, unchaste.
• adj. Not being in the possession of any competing team during a game.
• n. The release of an arrow.
• n. A state of laxity or indulgence; unrestrained freedom, abandonment.
• interj. begin shooting; release your arrows
• v. Common misspelling of lose.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• adj. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed, or confined.
• adj. Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc.; -- with from or of.
• adj. Not tight or close.
• adj. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded.
• adj. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate.
• adj. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right.
• adj. Unconnected; rambling.
• adj. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels.
• adj. Dissolute; unchaste.
• adj. Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language.
• n. Freedom from restraint.
• n. A letting go; discharge.
• v. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.
• v. To release from anything obligatory or burdensome; to disengage; hence, to absolve; to remit.
• v. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.
• v. To solve; to interpret.
• intransitive v. To set sail.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

• Not fast or confined; not fastened; unattached; free from restraint or obligation; not bound to another or together; without bonds, ties, or attachments; at liberty: as, loose sheets of a book; loose tresses of hair; loose change in one's pocket; to break loose; to be set loose; to cut loose from bad habits.
• Not tight or close; without close union or adjustment; slightly or slackly joined: as, a loose knot; loose garments; a loose league or confederation.
• Not dense or compact; having interstices or intervals; open or expanded: as, cloth of loose texture; a loose order of battle.
• Not concise or condensed; wanting precision or connection of parts; diffuse; rambling: as, a loose style of writing; loose reasoning; a loose array of facts.
• Not exact in meaning; indefinite; vague; uncertain.
• Lax; relaxed; slack; wanting retentiveness or power of restraint: as, loose bowels; loose ties; a loose bond of union.
• Lax in character or quality; not strict or exact; careless; slovenly: as, a loose construction of the constitution; a loose mode of conducting business; loose morality.
• Lax in principle or conduct; free from moral restraint; wanton; dissolute; unchaste: as, a loose woman; loose behavior.
• Disengaged; free; independent: with from or of.
• Seemingly communicative; frank; open; candid.
• n. Freedom from restraint; license.
• n. The act of letting go or letting fly; discharge; shot.
• n. A solution of a problem or explanation of a difficulty.
• n. The privilege of turning out cattle on commons.
• To make loose or free; release from that which restrains, confines, or hampers; set at liberty; disengage; discharge from constraint, obligation, or penalty.
• To disengage the hold of; undo; unfasten; untie.
• To relax; loosen; make or let loose, partially or wholly: as, to loose sail; to loose one's hold or grasp.
• To solve; explain.
• Synonyms To unfasten, let go, detach, disconnect, absolve, acquit.
• To perform the act of loosening; make or set loose something; let go a hold, unmoor a ship, shoot an arrow, or the like.
• In chem., not combined with anything else: as, carbon dioxid loose in the blood. The word free is more commonly used in this sense.
• In geology, incoherent, as unconsolidated sands.
• In coal-mining, free at the ends or sides: applied to a working-place when the coal has been previously mined on both sides: as, loose at one end, loose at one side, etc.
• n. In Rugby foot-ball, that part of the play in which the ball travels freely from player to player, as distinguished from the scrimmage.
• n. In mining, the end of a shift. Also loosing-time. When the workmen leave, the pit is said to be ‘loosed out.’
• n. In archery: The act of releasing the bow-string and discharging the arrow.
• n. The mode of performing this act, which differs among different peoples.
• In archery, to release (the bowstring) after the bow is drawn, thus discharging the arrow.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adj. not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting
• adj. not literal
• v. make loose or looser
• adj. emptying easily or excessively
• adj. not carefully arranged in a package
• adj. not officially recognized or controlled
• adj. (of textures) full of small openings or gaps
• v. grant freedom to; free from confinement
• adj. casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior
• adv. without restraint
• adj. (of a ball in sport) not in the possession or control of any player
• adj. lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility
• adj. having escaped, especially from confinement
• adj. not tense or taut
• v. turn loose or free from restraint
• v. become loose or looser or less tight
• adj. not compact or dense in structure or arrangement
• adj. not affixed