lose definition | Dictionary.com

lose

[looz]

verb, lost, los⋅ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery: I'm sure I've merely misplaced my hat, not lost it.

2.	to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered: I just lost a dime under this sofa.

3.	to suffer the deprivation of: to lose one's job; to lose one's life.

4.	to be bereaved of by death: to lose a sister.

5.	to fail to keep, preserve, or maintain: to lose one's balance; to lose one's figure.

6.	(of a clock or watch) to run slower by: The watch loses three minutes a day.

7.	to give up; forfeit the possession of: to lose a fortune at the gaming table.

8.	to get rid of: to lose one's fear of the dark; to lose weight.

9.	to bring to destruction or ruin (usually used passively): Ship and crew were lost.

10.	to condemn to hell; damn.

11.	to have slip from sight, hearing, attention, etc.: to lose him in the crowd.

12.	to stray from or become ignorant of (one's way, directions, etc.): to lose one's bearings.

13.	to leave far behind in a pursuit, race, etc.; outstrip: She managed to lose the other runners on the final lap of the race.

14.	to use to no purpose; waste: to lose time in waiting.

15.	to fail to have, get, catch, etc.; miss: to lose a bargain.

16.	to fail to win (a prize, stake, etc.): to lose a bet.

17.	to be defeated in (a game, lawsuit, battle, etc.): He has lost very few cases in his career as a lawyer.

18.	to cause the loss of: The delay lost the battle for them.

19.	to let (oneself) go astray, miss the way, etc.: We lost ourselves in the woods.

20.	to allow (oneself) to become absorbed or engrossed in something and oblivious to all else: I had lost myself in thought.

21.	(of a physician) to fail to preserve the life of (a patient).

22.	(of a woman) to fail to be delivered of (a live baby) because of miscarriage, complications in childbirth, etc.

–verb (used without object)

23.	to suffer loss: to lose on a contract.

24.	to suffer defeat or fail to win, as in a contest, race, or game: We played well, but we lost.

25.	to depreciate in effectiveness or in some other essential quality: a classic that loses in translation.

26.	(of a clock, watch, etc.) to run slow.

—Verb phrase

27.	lose out, to suffer defeat or loss; fail to obtain something desired: He got through the preliminaries, but lost out in the finals.

—Idiom

28.	lose face. face (def. 48).

Origin:
bef. 900; ME losen, OE -lēosan; r. ME lesen, itself also reflecting OE -lēosan; c. G verlieren, Goth fraliusan to lose. See loss

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To lose

lose (lōōz)

v. lost (lôst, lŏst), los·ing, los·es

v. tr.

To be unsuccessful in retaining possession of; mislay: He's always losing his car keys.
1. To be deprived of (something one has had): lost her art collection in the fire; lost her job.
2. To be left alone or desolate because of the death of: lost his wife.
3. To be unable to keep alive: a doctor who has lost very few patients.
4. To let (oneself) become unable to find the way.
5. To remove (oneself), as from everyday reality into a fantasy world.
6. To elude or outdistance: lost their pursuers.
7. To be outdistanced by: chased the thieves but lost them.
To be unable to keep control or allegiance of: lost his temper at the meeting; is losing supporters by changing his mind.
To fail to win; fail in: lost the game; lost the court case.
To fail to use or take advantage of: Don't lose a chance to improve your position.
To fail to hear, see, or understand: We lost the plane in the fog. I lost her when she started speaking about thermodynamics.
1. To let (oneself) become unable to find the way.
2. To remove (oneself), as from everyday reality into a fantasy world.
3. To elude or outdistance: lost their pursuers.
4. To be outdistanced by: chased the thieves but lost them.
To rid oneself of: lost five pounds.
To consume aimlessly; waste: lost a week in idle occupations.
To wander from or become ignorant of: lose one's way.
1. To elude or outdistance: lost their pursuers.
2. To be outdistanced by: chased the thieves but lost them.
To become slow by (a specified amount of time). Used of a timepiece.
To cause or result in the loss of: Failure to reply to the advertisement lost her the job.
To cause to be destroyed. Usually used in the passive: Both planes were lost in the crash.
To cause to be damned.

v. intr.

To suffer loss.
To be defeated.
To operate or run slow. Used of a timepiece.

Phrasal Verb(s):
lose outTo fail to achieve or receive an expected gain.

Idiom(s):
lose it Slang

To lose control; blow up.
To become deranged or mentally disturbed.
To become less capable or proficient; decline.

Idiom(s):
lose out onTo miss (an opportunity, for example).

Idiom(s):
lose time

To operate too slowly. Used of a timepiece.
To delay advancement.

[Middle English losen, from Old English losian, to perish, from los, loss; see leu- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Lose

Lose\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Losing.] [OE. losien to loose, be lost, lose, AS. losian to become loose; akin to OE. leosen to lose, p. p. loren, lorn, AS. le['o]san, p. p. loren (in comp.), D. verliezen, G. verlieren, Dan. forlise, Sw. f["o]rlisa, f["o]rlora, Goth. fraliusan, also to E. loose, a & v., L. luere to loose, Gr. ?, Skr. l? to cut. [root]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.

In the excitement of such a discovery, many scholars lost their heads. --Whitney.

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

Lose\, v. 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. --Shak.

Language Translation for : lose

Spanish: perder,

German: verlieren,

Japanese: 失う

More Translations »

lose

vi.
1. [very common] To fail. A program loses when it encounters an exceptional condition or fails to work in the expected manner.
2. To be exceptionally unesthetic or crocky.
3. Of people, to be obnoxious or unusually stupid (as opposed to ignorant). See also deserves to lose.
4. n. Refers to something that is losing, especially in the phrases "That's a lose!" and "What a lose!"

Jargon File 4.2.0
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lose

O.E. losian "be lost, perish," from los "destruction, loss," from P.Gmc. *lausa (cf. O.N. los "the breaking up of an army"), from PIE base *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart, untie, separate" (cf. Skt. lunati "cuts, cuts off," lavitram "sickle;" Gk. lyein "to loosen, untie, slacken," lysus "a loosening;" L. luere "to loose, release, atone for"). Replaced related leosan (a class II strong verb whose pp. loren survives in forlorn and love-lorn), from P.Gmc. *leusanan (cf. O.H.G. virliosan, Ger. verlieren, O.Fris. urliasa, Goth. fraliusan "to lose"). Transitive sense of "to part with accidentally" is from c.1205. Meaning "to be defeated" (in a game, etc.) is from c.1533. To lose (one's) mind "become insane" is attested from c.1500. To lose out "fail" is 1858, Amer.Eng.

Main Entry: lose
Pronunciation: 'lüz
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form: lost /'lost/; los·ing
1 : tosuffer deprivation of : part with especially in an unforeseen or accidental manner <lose a leg in an auto crash>
2 a : to suffer deprivation through the deathor removal of or final separation from (a person) <lost a son in the war> b : to fail to keep (a patient) from dying lost many fewer pneumonia cases sincepenicillin came into use>

lose jargon
(MIT) 1. To fail. A program loses when it encounters an exceptional condition or fails to work in the expected manner.
2. To be exceptionally unesthetic or crocky.
3. Of people, to be obnoxious or unusually stupid (as opposed to ignorant).
4. Refers to something that is losing, especially in the phrases "That's a lose!" and "What a lose!"
[The Jargon File]
(1995-04-19)

lose

In addition to the idioms beginning with lose, also see get (lose) one's bearings; keep (lose) one's cool; keep (lose) track; win some, lose some. Also see under losing; lost.

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