Part 777

2. A letting go; discharge. B. Jonson.

To give a loose, to give freedom.

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

Addison.

Loose (ls), v. n. [imp. & p. p. Loosed (lst); p. pr. & vb. n. Loosing.] [From Loose, a.] 1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.

Canst thou . . . loose the bands of Orion ?

Job. xxxviii. 31.

Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me.

Matt. xxi. 2.

2. To release from anything obligatory or burdensome; to disengage; hence, to absolve; to remit.

Art thou loosed from a wife ? seek not a wife.

1 Cor. vii. 27.

Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matt. xvi. 19.

3. To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.

The joints of his loins were loosed.

Dan. v. 6.

4. To solve; to interpret. [Obs.] Spenser.

Loose, v. i. To set sail. [Obs.] Acts xiii. 13.

Loose"ly, adv. In a loose manner.

Loos"en (ls"'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Loosened (ls"'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Loosening.] [See Loose, v. t.] 1. To make loose; to free from tightness, tension, firmness, or fixedness; to make less dense or compact; as, to loosen a string, or a knot; to loosen a rock in the earth.

After a year's rooting, then shaking doth the tree good by loosening of the earth.

Bacon.

2. To free from restraint; to set at liberty..

It loosens his hands, and assists his understanding.

Dryden.

3. To remove costiveness from; to facilitate or increase the alvine discharges of. Bacon.

Loos"en, v. i. To become loose; to become less tight, firm, or compact. S. Sharp.