looselyadv.
/ˈluːsli/, U.S. /ˈlusli/ In a loose manner.
1. Not tightly, slackly; without tightness, closeness, rigidity, or cohesion. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > loosening or unfastening > [adverb]
looselyc1400
slackly1486
slightly1600
laxly1756
c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 82 Bynde it [a ligature] losely at þe mouþ of þe wounde.
c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 146 Þe seuenþe is bounde loseliche to þe first spondile.
c1440 W. Hylton Scala Perfeccionis (1494) i. xii The more þat this desyre is the faster is Iesu knytte to the soule: The lesse that this desyre is þe loslyer is he knytte.
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. F3v It is a worlde to see how lowsely they shall be sowed,..euerie stitche an inch or two from another.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 26 b/2 It fasteneth the gummes vnto the teethe, when as they hange looselye theron.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 425 Part loosly wing the Region, part more wise In common, rang'd in figure wedge thir way. View more context for this quotation
1811 Latham Facts conc. Diabetes 87 Matters capable of such fermentation..have their sugar so weakly and loosely oxygenated as to be again readily evolved by the secretory action of the kidneys.
1842 J. Bischoff Comprehensive Hist. Woollen Manuf. II. 64 Articles of wool which were so loosely manufactured, that they could be easily converted again into wool.
1860 B. Jowett in Ess. & Rev. 389 In modern times..all languages sit loosely on thought.
1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz 81 Not so loosely thoughts were linked, Six weeks since.
2. Without care, strictness, or rigour; not strictly; carelessly, negligently, laxly. Said esp. of thought or its expression.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > absence of thought > [adverb] > carelessly
loosely1377
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xii. 213 For he is in þe lowest of heuene..And wel loselyche lolleth þere by þe lawe of holy~cherche.
1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Rolls) VII. 163 But Emme lousely i-kept [L. laxius custodita], wroot unto þe bisshoppis of Engelond.
1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. Evij Some thynke my satyres too to tarte, To kepe no constant lawe, And some haue thought it lously pende.
1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. III. 6 Though you write nothing loosly, yet you write nothing with streyning.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 39 The..Revenue had been very loosely managed.
1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 133 I have already loosely observed, that their system supposes [etc.].
1824 W. Scott Let. 11 Nov. (1935) VIII. 422 All men talk loosely in their ordinary conversation.
1838 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Ferdinand & Isabella I. Introd. p. xlvii The laws were often loosely administered by incompetent judges.
1885 Leeds Mercury 31 Jan. 6/5 The ideas thus loosely expressed.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 448 In this country the word ‘stammering’ is used loosely for all forms of speech defect.
3. Without moral strictness; immorally.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > [adverb]
untowelya1230
jollilyc1400
wantonlyc1405
small?c1450
nice?1544
loosely1548
licentiously1561
liberally1596
naughtily1609
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. xi. 20–4 Ye be not geuen to riot and excesse so openly and loosly.
1605 W. Camden Remaines i. 188 In this age when a Bishop living loosely was charged that his conversation was not according to the Apostles lives, he [etc.].
1699 J. Dryden in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. 140 Licence which Mrs. Behn allow'd herself, of writing loosely, and giving..some scandall to the modesty of her sex.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xvii. 36 He was..a far more dangerous enemy of the Church than..if he had..lived as loosely as Wilmot.
4. Without being confined or restrained. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > [adverb] > free from confinement
quitely1384
loosely1590
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. sig. L6 Her golden locks for hast were loosely shed About her eares.
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxi. 437 Ioues wife could put on no such raines, But spake thus loosly.
1633 P. Fletcher Poeticall Misc. 75 in Purple Island Or as the hairs which deck their wanton heads, Which loosely fly, and play with every winde.
1656 A. Cowley Davideis iii. 90 in Poems The wind admir'd which her hair loosely bore, Why it grew stiff, and now would play no more.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna x. xxv. 224 Sheathed in resplendent arms, or loosely dight To luxury.
1892 Ld. Tennyson Akbar's Dream And what are forms? Fair garments, plain or rich, and fitting close Or flying looselier.
5. With free evacuation of the bowels.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > defecation > [adverb] > relaxed condition of bowels
loosely1612
1612 T. Dekker If it be not Good ii. i. 32 Your guilded pills..slip so smoothly downe Your Subiects throates, that all (vpon a sudden) Are loosely giuen.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. III. 741 If the bowels are only opened once loosely he takes but one dose.
Compounds
With participial adjective, as loosely-adherent, loosely-branched, loosely-fitting, loosely-knit, loosely-packed, loosely-woven, etc. Cf. loose-knit adj. at loose adj., n.2, and adv. Compounds 3d.
ΚΠ
1746 J. Warton Ode to Fancy 9 O Nymph, with loosely-flowing hair.
1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. xiii. §109. 360 Not unfrequently a piece of trap [rock] may be found reduced..to a number of loosely-adherent coats, like those of an onion.
1887 C. A. Moloney Sketch Forestry W. Afr. 299 A loosely-branched tree.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 903 [Bacilli] occasionally in loosely packed bundles.
1935 J. S. Huxley & A. C. Haddon We Europeans i. 13 It [sc. group-sentiment] has spread beyond the family, the tribe, the loosely-knit federation of tribes to the yet more extensive aggregate, the nation.
1957 R. N. C. Hunt Guide to Communist Jargon xlvi. 153 It [sc. the Decree of the Central Committee] replaced the loosely-knit Union of Proletarian Writers by a single Union of Soviet Writers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1377