See Also: lose(medicine)
lose(1)(dictionary)
lose(2)(dictionary)
lose(dictionary)
lose(dictionary)
Lose One' s Head - Luge(gambling)
Place Bet (To Lose) - Craps(gambling)
You Win Some, you Lose Some Rule - Wrestling(gambling)

lose (iou)



lose verb. .
[Old English losian, from los LOSS, later sense-development infl. by cognate LESE, pronunc. prob. infl. by LOOSE adjective etc.]
verb intrans. Perish; be lost or missing. OE-LME.
verb trans.
a. Destroy, bring to perdition; be the ruin of. OE-E17.
Shakespeare Hamlet What to ourselves in passion we propose, The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
b. In pass. Be brought to destruction or ruin; perish, die or be dead; (of the soul) be damned; (of a ship etc.) disappear, perish at sea. ME.
Law Times The vessel..sank in a short time, all hands being lost.
c. Ruin (a person) in another's estimation. Now rare or obsolete. E17.
C. Sedley 'Twas I that lost you in each Roman mind.
verb trans. Become unable to find; cease to know the whereabouts of. OE.
Tennyson Since her horse was lost I left her mine. J. Morley Humanity had lost its title-deeds and he had recovered them.
b. Fail to retain in the mind or memory; forget. M16-E18.
c. Cease to follow (the right track). Freq. in lose one's way below. M16.
D. H. Lawrence He..stumbled blindly.., having lost the path in the complete darkness.
d. Fail to keep in sight; poet. cease to hear (a song etc.). L16.
T. Herbert Wee..got sight of the Carracke, and lost her for euer, in two houres after. Tennyson Losing her carol I stood pensively.
e. Draw away from, be no longer near or among; leave (another competitor) hopelessly behind in a race. L17.
Pope Here where the mountains less'ning as they rise Lose the low vales.
verb trans. Suffer the privation of (a possession, an attribute, a faculty, etc.); cease to possess or have through negligence or misadventure; be or become separated from by death or estrangement; be deprived of; spec. (a) suffer the loss of (blood) from one's blood-vessels; (b) (of an army commander etc.) suffer the loss of (troops) by death, capture, etc.; (c) (of a doctor) fail to preserve the life of (a patient); (d) (of a woman) suffer the loss of (a child) in childbirth, miscarry (a child). ME.
E. Waugh My papa has just put all his money into a cinema film and lost it all. E. Bowen They lost their colours and had five or six hundred slain. L. Uris For five consecutive years she lost children through early miscarriages. L. Hellman They had lost a brother in a yellow fever epidemic.
b. Of a thing: be deprived of or part with (a portion of itself, a quality, an appendage). Also foll. by off. ME.
H. Caine Her household duties had lost their interest.
c. Fail to maintain (a position, a state of mind or body, etc.). L15.
Milton They astonisht all resistance lost, All courage.
d. Be deprived of the power or opportunity to do. Only in 17.
e. Cease to suffer from, get rid of (a cold etc.); undergo a reduction of, shed (weight). Also, vomit up (a recently eaten meal). M17.
Wilkie Collins O! let me teach my heart to lose its fears. Oxford English Dictionary I have not yet lost my rheumatism.
f. In pass. Of an art: cease to be known or practised. Of a quality etc.: cease to be present. M17.
verb intrans. Suffer loss or detriment; cease to possess something wholly or partly; incur disadvantage (foll. by in, of); be worse off, esp. financially, as the result of a transaction (foll. by by, on). ME.
Tennyson 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. Oxford English Dictionary Both armies lost heavily. J. Cleary I've lost on every race so far.
verb trans. Spend (time, opportunities, etc.) to no purpose; waste. ME.
F. Marryat There is no time to be lost. G. Boothby A..fellow who never lost a chance of making himself objectionable. A. Ayckbourn Of all the working days lost..half are due to strikes and illness.
verb trans. Fail to obtain (something one might have had); miss (a train etc.); fail to catch (a quarry). ME.
James Harris The swift-footed Salius lost the prize to young Euryalus. Oxford English Dictionary I did not lose a word of his speech. S. Leacock No, not the fish they caught; this was the big one that they lost.
b. Fail to apprehend by sight or hearing; not catch (words etc.). L16.
Swift I lost church today.
c. Fail to attend. E18-M19.
verb trans.
a. Cause the loss of. ME.
E. A. Freeman The crimes of John lost him all the northern part of his French possessions.
b. Cause (a person) to miss the course of an argument etc.; bewilder. Chiefly colloq. M17.
P. Carey I'm sorry..but you've lost me. What was what deal?
c. Dispose of or discard as unnecessary or superfluous; kill. colloq. M20.
verb trans.
a. Be deprived of (something) in a contest or game; forfeit (a stake); be defeated in (a game, a battle, a lawsuit); fail to carry (a motion). Also in Cricket, have (a wicket) taken by an opponent. (Foll. by to.) ME.
Dickens The motion was lost by a majority of two. R. Campbell I lost only one fight out of eight. G. Boycott Bob Willis had lost his battle against a knee injury.
b. verb intrans. Be defeated; forfeit money, a stake, etc., by defeat in a game. M16.
Shakespeare King Lear Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out. Swift She lost at one Sitting to the Tune of a hundred Guineas.
verb refl. (& in pass.).
a. Lose one's way, go astray, (lit. & fig.). M16.
Milton In wandring mazes lost. J. C. Powys His mind went faster still..losing itself in infinite perspectives.
b. Lose identity, become merged (in something else), (lit. & fig.). E17.
J. Austen All surprise was shortly lost in other feelings. C. Lamb I love to lose myself in other men's minds.
c. Become deeply absorbed or engrossed (in thought etc.); be bewildered, be overwhelmed (in). Formerly also, be or become distracted (from emotion or excitement). E17.
W. Irving As I..lose myself in melancholy musings. B. Jowett He seemed to be lost in the contemplation of something great.
d. Become hidden from view, become obscured, (in clouds etc.). L17.
Dryden When the setting Stars are lost in Day. W. Cowper Rills that..lose themselves at length In matted grass.
Of a clock etc:
a. verb intrans. Run (increasingly) slow; indicate a time earlier than the correct time. M19.
b. verb trans. Run slow by (a specified amount of time). M19.
Phrases: heads I win, tails you lose: see HEAD noun. lose an eye: see EYE noun. lose caste: see CASTE 3. lose count: see COUNT noun1 1. lose countenance: see COUNTENANCE noun. lose face: see FACE noun. lose flesh: see FLESH noun. lose ground: see GROUND noun. lose heart: see HEART noun. lose height (of an aeroplane etc.) descend to a lower level in flight. lose interest: see INTEREST noun. lose it colloq. lose control of one's temper or emotions; cease to be rational or effective. lose leather: see LEATHER noun. lose nothing in the telling = not lose in the telling below. lose no time: see TIME noun. lose one's balance: see BALANCE noun. lose one's block: see BLOCK noun 6b. lose one's grip: see GRIP noun1. lose one's hair: see HAIR noun. lose one's head: see HEAD noun. lose one's heart: see HEART noun. lose one's life be killed. lose one's market: see MARKET noun. lose one's mind: see MIND noun1. lose one's nerve: see NERVE noun. lose one's rag: see RAG noun1. lose one's seat: see SEAT noun. lose one's shirt: see SHIRT noun. lose one's stirrups: see STIRRUP noun. lose one's temper: see TEMPER noun. lose one's touch: see TOUCH noun. lose one's voice: see VOICE noun. lose one's way go astray (lit. & fig.). lose one's wool: see WOOL noun. lose patience: see PATIENCE noun. lose sight of: see SIGHT noun. lose sleep over: see SLEEP noun. lose the number of one's mess: see MESS noun. lose the plot: see PLOT noun. lose the scent: see SCENT noun. lose the way = lose one's way above. lose touch (with): see TOUCH noun. lose track of: see TRACK noun. lose way (of a ship or boat) begin to move less quickly. lose weight: see WEIGHT noun. nothing to lose colloq. no possibility of further loss. not lose in the telling (of a story) be, if anything, exaggerated. win the saddle or lose the horse: see SADDLE noun. you can't lose etc., you etc. must inevitably profit.
With adverbs in specialized senses: lose out colloq. be unsuccessful, suffer a loss, not get a fair chance or advantage, (foll. by on).