資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   {To let} {drive or fly}, to discharge with violence, as a
      blow, an arrow, or stone. See under {Drive}, and {Fly}.

   {To let in} or into.
      (a) To permit or suffer to enter; to admit.
      (b) To insert, or imbed, as a piece of wood, in a recess
          formed in a surface for the purpose. {To let loose},
      to remove restraint from; to permit to wander at large.

   {To let off.}
      (a) To discharge; to let fly, as an arrow; to fire the
          charge of, as a gun.
      (b) To release, as from an engagement or obligation.
          [Colloq.]

   {To let out}.
      (a) To allow to go forth; as, to let out a prisoner.
      (b) To extend or loosen, as the folds of a garment; to
          enlarge; to suffer to run out, as a cord.
      (c) To lease; to give out for performance by contract, as
          a job.
      (d) To divulge.

   {To let slide}, to let go; to cease to care for. [Colloq.] ``
      Let the world slide.'' --Shak.

Loose \Loose\, a. [Compar. {Looser}; superl. {Loosest}.] [OE.
   loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin to OD. loos, D. los, AS.
   le['a]s false, deceitful, G. los, loose, Dan. & Sw. l["o]s,
   Goth. laus, and E. lose. ? See {Lose}, and cf. {Leasing}
   falsehood.]
   1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed,
      or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.

            Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat.
                                                  --Shak.

   2. Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty,
      habit, etc.; -- with from or of.

            Now I stand Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's
            thoughts ?                            --Addison.

   3. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.

   4. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of
      loose texture.

            With horse and chariots ranked in loose array.
                                                  --Milton.

   5. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose
      style, or way of reasoning.

            The comparison employed . . . must be considered
            rather as a loose analogy than as an exact
            scientific explanation.               --Whewel.

   6. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to
      some standard of right.

            The loose morality which he had learned. --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   7. Unconnected; rambling.

            Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose
            and unconnected pages.                --I. Watts.

   8. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. --Locke.

   9. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.

            Loose ladies in delight.              --Spenser.

   10. Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language;
       as, a loose epistle. -- Dryden.

   {At loose ends}, not in order; in confusion; carelessly
      managed.

   {Fast and loose}. See under {Fast}.

   {To break loose}. See under {Break}.

   {Loose pulley}. (Mach.) See {Fast and loose pulleys}, under
      {Fast}.

   {To let loose}, to free from restraint or confinement; to set
      at liberty.