Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Lose

Lose

(loōz)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Lost
(lŏst; 115)
p. pr. & vb. n.
Losing
(loōz′ĭng)
.]
[OE.
losien
to loose, be lost, lose, AS.
losian
to become loose; akin to OE.
leosen
to lose, p. p.
loren
,
lorn
, AS.
leísan
,
p. p. loren
(in comp.), D. ver
liezen
, G. ver
lieren
, Dan. for
lise
, Sw. för
lisa
, för
lora
, Goth. fra
liusan
, also to E.
loose
, a & v., L.
luere
to loose, Gr.
λύειν
, Skr.
lū
to cut. √127. Cf.
Analysis
,
Palsy
,
Solve
,
Forlorn
,
Leasing
,
Loose
,
Loss
.]
1.
To part with unintentionally or unwillingly, as by accident, misfortune, negligence, penalty, forfeit, etc.; to be deprived of;
as, to
lose
money from one’s purse or pocket, or in business or gaming; to
lose
an arm or a leg by amputation; to
lose
men in battle.
Fair Venus wept the sad disaster
Of having
lost
her favorite dove.
Prior.
2.
To cease to have; to possess no longer; to suffer diminution of;
as, to
lose
one's relish for anything; to
lose
one's health.
If the salt hath
lost
his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
Matt. v. 13.
3.
Not to employ; to employ ineffectually; to throw away; to waste; to squander;
as, to
lose
a day; to
lose
the benefits of instruction.
The unhappy have but hours, and these they
lose
.
Dryden.
4.
To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to and; to go astray from;
as, to
lose
one's way
.
He hath
lost
his fellows.
Shak
5.
To ruin; to destroy; as destroy;
as, the ship was
lost
on the ledge
.
The woman that deliberates is
lost
.
Addison.
6.
To be deprived of the view of; to cease to see or know the whereabouts of;
as, he
lost
his companion in the crowd
.
Like following life thro' creatures you dissect,
You
lose
it in the moment you detect.
Pope.
7.
To fail to obtain or enjoy; to fail to gain or win; hence, to fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss;
as, I
lost
a part of what he said
.
He shall in no wise
lose
his reward.
Matt. x. 42.
I fought the battle bravely which I
lost
,
And
lost
it but to Macedonians.
Dryden.
8.
To cause to part with; to deprive of.
[R.]
How should you go about to
lose
him a wife he loves with so much passion?
Sir W. Temple.
9.
To prevent from gaining or obtaining.
O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and
lost
me this glory.
Baxter.
To lose ground
,
to fall behind; to suffer gradual loss or disadvantage.
–
To lose heart
,
to lose courage; to become timid.
“The mutineers lost heart.”
Macaulay.
–
To lose one's head
,
to be thrown off one's balance; to lose the use of one's good sense or judgment, through fear, anger, or other emotion.
–
To lose one's self
.
(a)
To forget or mistake the bearing of surrounding objects;
as,
to lose one's self
in a great city
.
(b)
To have the perceptive and rational power temporarily suspended;
as, we
lose ourselves
in sleep
.
–
To lose sight of
.
(a)
To cease to see;
as,
to lose sight of
the land
.
(b)
To overlook; to forget; to fail to perceive;
as, he
lost sight of
the issue
.

Lose

,
Verb.
I.
To suffer loss, disadvantage, or defeat; to be worse off, esp. as the result of any kind of contest.
We 'll . . . hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who
loses
and who wins; who's in, who's out.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Lose

LOSE

,
Verb.
T.
looz. pret. and pp. lost.
1.
To mislay; to part or be separated from a thing, so as to have no knowledge of the place where it is; as, to lose a book or a paper; to lose a record; to lose a dollar or a ducat.
2.
To forfeit by unsuccessful contest; as, to lose money in gaming.
3.
Not to gain or win; as, to lose a battle, that is, to be defeated.
4.
To be deprived of; as, to lose men in battle; to lose an arm or leg by a shot or by amputation; to lose one's life or honor.
5.
To forfeit, as a penalty. Our first parents lost the favor of God by their apostasy.
6.
To suffer diminution or waste of.
If the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? Matt. 5.
7.
To ruin; to destroy.
The woman that deliberates is lost.
8.
To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; as, to lose the way.
9.
To bewilder.
Lost in the maze of words.
10.
To possess no longer; to be deprived of; contrary to keep; as, to lose a valuable trade.
11.
Not to employ or enjoy; to waste. Titus sighed to lose a day.
Th' unhappy have but hours, but these they lose.
12.
To waste; to squander; to throw away; as, to lose a fortune by gaming, or by dissipation.
13.
To suffer to vanish from view or perception. We lost sight of the land at noon. I lost my companion in the crowd.
Like following life in creatures we dissect, we lost it in the moment we detect.
14.
To ruin; to destroy by shipwreck, &c. the albion was lost on the coast of Ireland, april 22, 1822. the admiral lost three ships in a tempest.
15.
To cause to perish; as, to be lost at sea.
16.
to employ ineffectually; to throw away; to waste. Instruction is often lost on the dull; admonition is lost on the profligate. It is often the fate of projectors to lose their labor.
17.
to be freed from.
His scaly back the bunch has got which Edwin lost before.
18.
to fail to obtain.
He shall in no wise lose his reward. Matt. 5.
to lose one's self, to be bewildered; also, to slumber; to have the memory and reason suspended.

LOSE

,
Verb.
I.
looz.
1.
To forfeit any thing in contest; not to win.
We'll talk with them too, who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out.
2.
To decline; to fail.
Wisdom in discourse with her loses discountenanced, and like folly shows.

Definition 2024

Lose

Lose

See also: lose, löse, loše, and løse

German

Noun

Lose

  1. plural of Los

lose

lose

See also: Lose, löse, loše, and løse

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: lo͞oz, IPA(key): /luːz/
  • Rhymes: -uːz
  • Homophones: loos, Lou’s

Verb

lose ‎(third-person singular simple present loses, present participle losing, simple past and past participle lost)

  1. (transitive) To cause (something) to cease to be in one's possession or capability due to unfortunate or unknown circumstances, events or reasons.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess:
      Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
    • 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport:
      Forest, who lost striker Kris Boyd to injury seconds before half-time, produced little after the break, with a Tyson sliced shot from 12 yards their only opportunity of note.
    If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.‎
    He lost his hearing in the explosion.‎
    She lost her position when the company was taken over.‎
  2. To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.
    I lost my way in the forest.
    • Shakespeare
      He hath lost his fellows.
  3. (transitive) To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.
    Johnny lost a tooth, but kept it for the tooth fairy.‎
    He lost his spleen in a car wreck.‎
  4. (transitive) To fail to win (a game, competition, trial, etc).
    We lost the football match.‎
    • Dryden
      I fought the battle bravely which I lost, / And lost it but to Macedonians.
  5. (transitive) To shed (weight).
    I’ve lost five pounds this week.‎
  6. (transitive) To be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer.
    The policeman lost the robber he was chasing.‎
    Mission control lost the satellite as its signal died down.‎
  7. (transitive) To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.
    We managed to lose our pursuers in the forest.‎
  8. (transitive) To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).
    She lost all her sons in the war.‎
  9. (transitive) To cease exhibiting; to overcome (a behavior or emotion).
    • 2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9781416535270, page 134:
      I can see Mickie getting hot, I'm about to grab his arm, hold him back, say, Whoa, whoa, Mick, not here, it ain't worth it what happened inside just now. But I don't need to because Mickie loses his anger, starts smiling at ponytail, then melodramatically starts looking around at the men and women on the street going in and out of the courthouse.
    • 2012, Tracy Brooks, Dancing in the Rain, ISBN 1475944500, page 349:
      Her attitude was so bad my mother wound up telling her, “You know we really don't have to be standing here talking to you, so you can lose the attitude or you can leave.
  10. (transitive, informal) To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.
    When we get into the building, please lose the hat.‎
  11. Of a clock, to run slower than expected.
    My watch loses five minutes a week.‎
    It's already 5:30? My watch must have lost a few minutes.‎
  12. To cause (someone) the loss of something; to deprive of.
    • Baxter
      O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory.
    • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, page 556:
      This lost Catholicism […] any semblance of a claim to special status, and also highlighted the gains which other religious formations had derived from the Revolution.
  13. To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.
    I lost a part of what he said.
  14. (transitive, archaic) To cause to part with; to deprive of.
    • Sir W. Temple
      How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?
Conjugation
Usage notes
  • Do not confuse lose with loose.
Synonyms
  • (cause to cease to be in one's possession): leave behind, mislay
  • (fail to win (something):
  • (shed (weight): drop, shed
  • (have (somebody of one's kin) die):
  • (be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer):
  • (shed, remove, discard, eliminate): ditch, drop, dump, get rid of, jettison
  • (fail to win (intransitive):
  • (last):
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French los, loos, from Latin laudēs, plural of laus ‎(“praise”).

Noun

lose

  1. (obsolete) Fame, renown; praise.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.12:
      That much he feared least reprochfull blame / With foule dishonour him mote blot therefore; / Besides the losse of so much loos and fame […].

Anagrams

Alemannic German

Etymology

Middle High German losen.

Pronunciation

  • (Zurich) IPA(key): /ˈlozə/, /ˈlɔzə/

Verb

lose ‎(third-person singular simple present loset, past participle gloset, auxiliary haa)

  1. to hear, listen
    • 1903, Robert Walser, Der Teich:
      I ha allwäg nüt anders z'mache, als nume uf dini Chlage z’lose.
      I never do anything but listen to your complaining.

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈloːzə/

Etymology 1

Old High German lōs

Alternative forms

  • los (also a distinct word, but not separable in many contexts)

Adjective

lose

  1. loose, slack
Declension
Comparative forms of lose
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative er ist loser sie ist loser es ist loser sie sind loser
strong declension
(without article)		 nominative loserer losere loseres losere
genitive loseren loserer loseren loserer
dative loserem loserer loserem loseren
accusative loseren losere loseres losere
weak declension
(with definite article)		 nominative der losere die losere das losere die loseren
genitive des loseren der loseren des loseren der loseren
dative dem loseren der loseren dem loseren den loseren
accusative den loseren die losere das losere die loseren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		 nominative ein loserer eine losere ein loseres (keine) loseren
genitive eines loseren einer loseren eines loseren (keiner) loseren
dative einem loseren einer loseren einem loseren (keinen) loseren
accusative einen loseren eine losere ein loseres (keine) loseren

Etymology 2

Verb

lose

  1. First-person singular present of losen.
  2. First-person singular subjunctive I of losen.
  3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of losen.
  4. Imperative singular of losen.

Etymology

From Middle English losen, from Old English losian.

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