Lose v.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Lose v.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1903, rev. 2024. Lose v.1 Forms: 1 losian, 2–3 losie(n, 5 Sc. loyse, 5–6 losse, Sc. lois(s, 5, Sc. 6– loss, 5–8 loose, 6 Sc. los, loce, (loase, 7 loze), 3– lose. Pa. t. 1 losode, -ade, 1–3 -ede, 4 Sc. losit, 4–6 loste, Sc. lossit, -yt, 6 Sc. loissit, loussit, (7 loosed, losed), 3– lost. Pa. pple. 1 (ʓe)losod, -ad, 3 ilosed, -et, 3–5 ilost, 4 losed, 4–5 i-, ylost(e, 4–6 loste, (Sc. losit, -yt, 5–6 loissit, lossit, -yt, 6 loist, loseit, 7 loissed), 3– lost. [OE. losian, f. los LOSS, used almost exclusively intr. (sense 1); sometimes with indirect obj. in dative, as me losode hit = I lost it. The transitive use, which occurs twice in Northumbrian and appears in general use early in 13th c., seems to have arisen partly from interchange of function between the indirect obj. and the subj. where these were not distinguishable by case-form (cf. LIKE v., LATHE v.), and partly from the perfect conjugated with be (OE. hit is ʓelosod = it is lost), which admits of being apprehended as passive. The later sense-development of the vb. has been influenced by the cognate LEESE v., with which it became synonymous, and which it in the end superseded.

1   The regular mod. Eng. pronunciation repr. OE. losian would be (lōuz); the standard Eng. pronunciation (lūz) seems to be due to association with LOOSE v., which in some contexts (e.g., to loose hold) closely approaches this vb. in meaning. Many dialects have the phonetic form normally descending from the OE. vb. The Sc. form loss is prob. evolved from the pa. t. and pa. pple. lost.]

2   † 1.  intr. To perish; also, to be lost or missing.

3 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxi. § 2. Swa swa seo beo sceal losian þon heo hwæt irringa stingð. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past., xxx. 205. Ðætte nu foraldod is ðæt is forneah losad.

4 a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 245. Forþan þe ic imete mi sceap þe me losede.

5 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 117. Þenne losiað fele saulen.

6 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 907. Þer lyuez lyste may neuer lose.

7   † 2.  trans. To destroy, ruin, bring to destruction or perdition; to be the ruin of. Obs.

8 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xvii. 27. And cuom Þæt flod & losade vel spilde alle.

9 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 909. Alle þe londe with þise ledez we losen at-onez.

10 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 49. Þe kyng … sent his ostis and loste þese mansleeris.

11 c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, iii. 23. Þou schalt haue als manye peynes as þou hast loste soules!

12 1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, lxxxiv. G viij. The fyre sprang oute and loste his hand.

13 1538.  Bale, God’s Promises, II. (1744), 11. Lose hym not yet, Lorde, though he hath depely sworved.

14 1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. 845. Lest heat, wet, wind, should roste, or rot, or lose it.

15 1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 205. What to our selues in passion we propose, The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.

16 1628.  trans. Mathieu’s Powerfull Favorite, 122, marg. We ought not proudly to despise prodegies, this neglect lost Alexander.

17   b.  To ruin in estimation. rare.

18 1605.  Shaks., Lear, I. i. 236. Such a tongue, That I am glad I haue not, though not to haue it, Hath lost me in your liking.

19 1677.  Sedley, Ant. & Cl., V. i. Wks. (1766), 191. ’Twas I that lost you in each Roman mind.

20 1882.  J. C. Morison, Macaulay, ii. 43–4. His want of aspiration, of all effort to rise into the higher regions of thought, has lost him in the opinion of many readers.

21   c.  pass. To be brought to destruction, ruin or misery; to perish; to be killed; in a spiritual sense (of the soul), to be damned. Of a ship, its crew, passengers or cargo: To perish at sea.

22 [c. 897:  see 1.]

23 a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P., xxxvi. 99. Ichabbe be losed mony a day.

24 c. 1366.  Chaucer, A. B. C., 152. I am wounded … Þat j am lost almost.

25 c. 1375.  Cursor M., 6006 (Fairf.). Dede & loste was al þaire fe.

26 c. 1397.  Chaucer, Lack Stedf., 7. Al is loste for lac of stedfastnesse.

27 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, V. 507. I trow nocht ȝeit at Wallace losyt be: Our clerkys sayis, he sall ger mony de.

28 a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, xxi. 63. Yf ye speke to hym ye are lost for euer. Ibid. (a. 1533), Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), E vii b. To play at the tables and dice with suche as be lost and naught.

29 1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, V. i. 332. By this meanes God is dishonoured, and man lost in all parts by idolatry.

30 1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. i. 52. All lost, to prayers, to prayers, all lost.

31 1713.  Addison, Cato, IV. i. 46. The Woman that Deliberates is lost.

32 1781.  Cowper, Truth, 479. And is the soul indeed so lost!

33 1798.  Monthly Mag., VI. 437 (Scotticisms). Poor man, he was lost in the river; drowned.

34 1817.  W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 921. The property insured was lost.

35 1861.  J. A. Alexander, Gosp. Jesus Christ, xiii. 182. You are not in danger of perdition, but are lost already.

36 1885.  Law Times Rep., LIII. 60/2. The vessel … sank in a short time, all hands being lost.

37   3.  To incur the privation of (something that one possesses or has control of); to part with through negligence or misadventure; to be deprived of.

38   a.  with obj. a material or immaterial possession, lands, goods, a right, quality, etc. † occas. with away, up, (? U.S. rare) out.

39 c. 1205.  Lay., 29159. Þus losede Bruttes al þas kine-londes.

40 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 272. Þou losis þi dignite.

41 1427.  Waterf. Arch., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 295. The accusere shal losse his fraunches for ever.

42 a. 1470.  Gregory, in Hist. Coll. Lond. Cit. (Camden), 189. That same yere was the most pa[r]te of Normandy y-loste.

43 14[?].  Childe of Bristowe, 402, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 125. Thu has played atte dice,… and lost up, sone, that thu had.

44 c. 1530.  Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 6. He lost away and wasted … his londes and goodes.

45 1632.  Lithgow, Trav., II. 66. In all, the Christians loosed but eleuen Gallies.

46 1779.  Cowper, Yearly Distress, 55. One talks … of pigs that he has lost By maggots at the tail.

47 1869.  H. Bushnell, New Life, viii. 110. The child brought up a thief gets an infinite power of cunning … and loses out just as much in the power of true perception.

48 1878.  S. Walpole, Hist. Eng., II. 458. Sir Joseph Yorke told him that he would lose his place if he did not keep his temper.

49   b.  with obj. a limb, a faculty, one’s life, etc.

50   To lose one’s head: see HEAD sb. 51. To lose heart: to become discouraged. To lose one’s heart: to fall in love. † To lose one’s breath: to die. To lose one’s legs (slang): to get drunk.

51 c. 1205.  Lay., 25918. Hire lif heo losede sone.

52 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 586. If he has losed the lysten.

53 1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), VII. 315. Makynge a statute that whosoever toke a beste þer scholde lose oon eie.

54 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, IV. ix. 130. Syr Arthur lost so moche blood that it was merueille he stode on his feet.

55 15[?].  in Lett. Roy. & Illustr. Ladies (1846), II. 4. She was like to have lost her mind.

56 1530.  Palsgr., 429/2. I am spechelesse, as a sycke body is that hath lost the use of his speche.

57 1596.  B. Griffin, Fidessa, vi. Oh better were I loose ten thousand breaths, Than euer liue in such vnseene disgrace.

58 1597.  Bacon, Coulers Gd. & Evill (Arb.), 152. As to a monoculos it is more to loose one eye, then to a man that hath two eyes.

59 1633.  Ford, Broken H., III. v. ’Tis long agone since first I lost my heart.

60 1671.  Milton, Samson, 914. Though sight be lost, Life yet hath many solaces.

61 1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 60, ¶ 4. In a little Time after he lost his Senses.

62 1744.  Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Sp. Rhodomontades, 186. As soon as They were dead, every one lost Heart, having lost their Chief Supports.

63 1749.  Lavington, Enthus. Methodists & Papists, II. vi. (1752), 46. A religious Nun, devoted to St. Xavier, famed for Skill in Music and a fine Voice, had her Voice lost by a Hoarsness for ten Years.

64 1770.  Gentl. Mag., XL. 569. To express the Condition of an Honest Fellow and no Flincher under the Effects of Good Fellowship, he is said to … [have] Lost his legs.

65 1804.  G. Rose, Diaries (1860), II. 193. She … rode to Southampton, where she lost some blood.

66 1842.  Tennyson, Edw. Gray, 3. And have you lost your heart?… And are you married yet?

67 1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxvii. 253. She acquired an influence over the mind of the destitute child that she never lost.

68   c.  With obj. a person: To be deprived of (a relative, friend, servant, etc.) by death, by local separation, or by severance of the relationship. Also, in somewhat specific sense, of a commander, an army: To suffer loss of (men) by death, capture, wounds, etc. Of a medical man: To fail to preserve the life of (a patient).

69 c. 1205.  Lay., 5704. Heo loseden monie þusend godere monnen.

70 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 78. We losten alle oure housbondes at that toun.

71 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., v. 48. Why shuld I apon a day loyse both my sonnes?

72 1530.  Palsgr., 749/2. The folysshe gyrle toke on for thought as if she had loste her father she coulde have done no more.

73 1722.  De Foe, Moll Flanders (1840), 117. The apprehensions of losing such a friend.

74 1780.  Westm. Mag., VIII. 249. The Resolution had the good luck to come up with the Prothée … and took her without losing a man.

75 1842.  Browning, Waring, I. iv. How much I loved him, I find out now I’ve lost him.

76 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, I. 256. When we came where lies the child We lost in other years.

77 1880.  Wheeler, Short Hist. India, 604. The English had lost more than 2,400 officers and men.

78 1882.  S. Wells, Ovar. & Uterine Tumours, 185. He [McDowell] lost only the last of his first five cases of ovariotomy.

79 1883.  Howells, Woman’s Reason, II. xx. 176. She had lost her father, who died very suddenly a few days after he sailed.

80 1895.  George, Battles Eng. Hist., 208. How disastrous was the repulse may be estimated from the fact that while Wellington lost about 1300 men, Massena lost considerably over three times that number.

81   d.  To fail to maintain (a position, a state of mind or body), e.g., to lose patience, one’s temper, to lose caste, hold, one’s balance, etc. To lose ground: to fail to keep one’s position; esp. fig. to decline in reputation, favor, health, etc.

82 [1436:  see GROUND sb. 11.]

83 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, IV. ix. 131. But alweyes he helde vp his shelde and lost no ground nor bated no chere.

84 a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1590), 27. At length, the left winge of the Arcadians began to loose ground.

85 1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 53. How had they almost made me to lose my patience, and my judgement!

86 1640.  trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., I. xvi. 68. They brake their staves bravely, without losing their saddles.

87 1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 838. They astonisht all resistance lost, All courage.

88 1712.  W. Rogers, Voy., 291. A Current setting to Leeward, we rather lost than got ground.

89 1775.  Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 13 June. Boswell is a favourite but he has lost ground since I told them that he is married.

90 1782.  Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. IV. 379. Those suspicions were not likely to lose ground.

91 1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xi. Chuffey boggled over his plate so long, that Mr. Jonas, losing patience, took it from him at last.

92 1877.  Spurgeon, Serm., XXIII. 320. He has lost caste and lost all ground of glorying.

93   e.  occas. To cease to have, to get rid of (something undesirable, e.g., an ailment).

94 1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 607. To loose In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe.

95 1677.  Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 42. The Dutchesse hath had an ague in her lyeing inne but hath soone lost it.

96 1742.  W. Collins, Hassan, 83. O! let me teach my heart to lose its fears.

97 1859.  Mrs. Trevelyan, Lett., in Trevelyan, Life Macaulay (1876), II. xv. 477. Never, as long as I live, can I lose the sense of misery that I ever left him after Christmas day.

98 Mod.  I have not yet lost my rheumatism.

99   f.  Of a thing: To be deprived of or part with (a portion of itself, a quality, or appurtenance).

100 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 221. Þe day lost his coloure, & mirk was as þe nyght.

101 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Frankl. T., 288. Til that the brighte sonne loste his hewe.

102 1598.  Shaks., Merry W., V. v. 239. This deceit looses the name of craft.

103 1629.  Milton, Hymn Nativity, 99. The Air such pleasure loth to lose, With thousand echo’s still prolongs each heav’nly close.

104 1784.  Cowper, Task, I. 648. And have thy joys Lost nothing by comparison with ours?

105 1881.  Le Conte, Sight, 51. When … the hypermetropic eye loses its power of adjustment.

106 1894.  Hall Caine, Manxman, IV. x. 233. Her household duties had lost their interest.

107   † g.  with cognate obj., to lose a loss. Also, to lose (= incur) a fine. Obs.

108 1498.  Old City Acc. Bk., in Archæol. Jrnl., XLIII. Item for a fyne lost by John Stone … xxd.

109 1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxxvii. 109. The countrey of Bierne this hundred yere neuer loste suche a losse.

110 a. 1541.  Wyatt, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 87. Graunt them good Lord,… To freate inward, for losyng such a losse.

111 1614.  S. Ward, Lett., in Ussher’s Lett. (1686), 33. We have lost … a great loss by Mr. Casaubon’s untimely decease.

112   † h.  with inf.: To be deprived of the power or opportunity (of doing something). Obs.

113 1616.  B. Jonson, Forest, Ep. Lady Aubigny, 4. What th’ haue lost t’ expect, they dare deride.

114 1671.  Milton, P. R., I. 378. Though I have lost … To be belov’d of God, I have not lost To love.

115   i.  The passive is often used without any reference to a determinate person or thing as ‘losing’; e.g., (of an art, etc.) to cease to be known or practised; (of a quality, etc.) to cease to be present. Cf. LOST ppl. a.

116 1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 429. This God-like act Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldst have dy’d, In sin for ever lost from life.

117 1670.  Ray, Prov., 117. It’s not lost that comes at last. All is not lost that is in danger.

118 1700.  Dryden, Fables, Pref. (Globe), 505. The name of its author being wholly lost.

119 1722.  Quincy, Lex. Physico-Med. (ed. 2), 264/1. In all Percussions the Stroke is proportional to the Force lost.

120 1779–81.  Johnson, L. P., Cowley (1821), I. 64. If what he thinks be true, that his numbers are unmusical only when they are ill-read, the art of reading them is at present lost.

121 1842.  Tennyson, Morte Arth., 90. Surely a precious thing … Should thus be lost for ever from the earth.

122 1870.  M. Arnold, St. Paul & Protestantism (1900), 69. From which [chapters] Paul’s whole theology, if all his other writings were lost, might be reconstructed.

123 1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 818. The quality of the voice may be unaltered or completely lost.

124   4.  absol. or intr. To suffer loss; to cease to possess something; to be deprived of or part with some of his or its possessions, attributes or qualities; to become deteriorated or incur disadvantage.

125 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 41. Ha beon eauer feard for to losen [elsewhere, and here in MS. Bodl. leosen].

126 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, IV. 336. Now want, now has; now loss, now can wyn.

127 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. ii. 101. Thou shalt not loose by it.

128 1611.  Bible, Eccl. iii. 6. A time to get, and a time to lose.

129 1643.  Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, iv. (1652), 75. There is nothing lost in being willing to lose for God.

130 1697.  Dryden, Ded. Æneis, Ess. (ed. Ker), II. 229. Thus, by gaining abroad, he lost at home.

131 1838.  Macaulay, Temple, Ess. (1887), 440. He never put himself prominently before the public eye, except at conjunctures when he was almost certain to gain and could not possibly lose.

132 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxvii. ’Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.

133 1895.  George, Battles Eng. Hist., 313. Fortunately the Sikhs had lost so severely that no evil consequences followed.

134 1898.  Folk-Lore, Sept., 198. The other was undertaken by a publisher, who lost on it.

135 Mod.  Both armies lost heavily.

136   b.  Of an immaterial thing: To be deprived of its power or force. rare.

137 1794.  Mrs. Piozzi, Synon., II. 56. Our authors plunder French comedies in vain; the humour loses and evaporates.

138 1900.  R. J. Drummond, Relat. Apost. Teaching, i. 33. The words are only understood in their setting. They lose immensely when isolated.

139   † c.  Const. of, with partitive sense. Obs.

140 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. v. 163. Gold alwayes worn in the same purse with silver loses both of the colour and weight.

141 1753.  A. Murphy, Gray’s-Inn Jrnl., No. 33. These Allurements soon began to lose of their Influence.

142 1791.  Boswell, Johnson (1831), I. 86. Hawkins told him it would lose of its beauty if it were so published.

143 1802.  Beddoes, Hygëia, V. 54. Every muscle, steeped in a heated medium, loses of its contractility.

144   5.  To become, permanently or temporarily, unable to find in one’s own possession or custody; to cease to know the whereabouts of (a portable object, an animal, etc.) because it has strayed or gone unawares from one’s possession, or has simply been mislaid.

145 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xv. 4. ʓif forlorað vel losað enne of ðæm.

146 1382.  Wyclif, Luke xv. 4. What man of ȝou that hath an hundrid scheep, and if he hath lost oon of hem [etc.].

147 c. 1422.  Hoccleve, Jonathas, 318. Y haue a fere … thow woldest it leese, As thow lostist my ryng.

148 1567.  Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 37. My Sone was loste, and now is found.

149 1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. i. 23. Like a Schoole-boy that had lost his A. B. C.

150 1655.  trans. Com. Hist. Francion, VII. 12. We demanded if they had not taken up a hawk which we had lost.

151 1718.  Prior, Dove, 8. Venus wept the sad disaster Of having lost her favourite dove.

152 1743.  Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 110. She told me Mr. B——n had lost his Hat.

153 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, IV. 179. Since her horse was lost I left her mine.

154 1871.  Morley, Voltaire (1886), 5. Humanity had lost its title-deeds and he had recovered them.

155   b.  To fail to keep in sight. Also, to lose sight of (lit. and fig.): see SIGHT. Also occas., to cease to hear (poet.); † to fail to follow (a person) in argument (obs. or arch.).

156 1587.  Ianes, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1600), III. 111. The Master … was afrayd his men would shape some contrary course while he was asleepe, and so he should lose vs.

157 a. 1592.  H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 349. This is our life while we enjoy it, we lose it like the Sunne which flies swifter than an arrow, and yet no man perceives that it moves.

158 1628.  Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 3. If wee should chance at any time to loose each other, vpon sight againe [etc.].

159 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 11. Wee once more got sight of the Carracke, and lost her for euer, in two houres after.

160 1640.  Shirley, Constant Maid, IV. F 2 b. I cannot see i’ th’ darke with spectacles, And mine owne eyes ha’ lost him o’ the suddaine.

161 1725.  Wodrow Corr. (1843), III. 173. I thought, upon infinity, he was running into Sir Isaac Newton’s notion of infinite space being the divine sensorium,… but, indeed, many times I lost him.

162 1833.  Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., 245. Losing her carol I stood pensively.

163   c.  To draw away from, be no longer near or among; to leave hopelessly behind in a race.

164 1704.  Pope, Autumn, 60. Here where the mountains less’ning as they rise Lose the low vales, and steal into the skies.

165 1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. v. 180. We did not lose them [flying-fish] on the coast of Brazil, till we approached the southern tropic.

166 1886.  Sir F. H. Doyle, Remin., 63. Where his great stride and iron legs would have enabled him, in the language of the turf, to lose his antagonist.

167   † d.  To fail to retain in the mind or memory; to forget. Also said of the mind or memory. To lose it that...: to forget that. Obs.

168 1530.  Palsgr., 556/1. I forget, I have loste a thynge out of remembraunce.

169 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 114. Being ouerfull of selfe-affaires, My minde did lose it. Ibid. (1592), Ven. & Ad., 408. The lesson is but plaine, And once made perfect, neuer lost again.

170 1612.  Dekker, If it be not Good, Wks. 1873, III. 299. My memorie had quite lost you.

171 1613.  Shaks., etc., Hen. VIII., II. i. 57. Heare what I say, and then goe home and lose me.

172 16[?].  Milton, Ps. lxxxiii. 16. That Israels name for ever may Be lost in memory.

173 1703.  Rowe, Fair Penit., V. i. Here let Remembrance lose our past Misfortunes.

174 1712.  S. Sewall, Diary, 11 April. Had quite lost it that the Meeting was at Mr. Stoddard’s.

175 [1870.  M. Arnold, St. Paul & Protestantism (1900), 148. Who can ever lose out of his memory the roll and march of those magnificent words of prophecy?]

176   e.  To cease to follow (the right track); also, to cease to find (traces of a person, etc.). Chiefly in to lose one’s way (lit. and fig.). † Of a river: To diverge from (its channel).

177 1530.  Palsgr., 771/1. I wander, as one dothe that hath loste his waye.

178 1582.  N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., I. viii. 20. They had willingly lost their course.

179 1615.  G. Sandys, Trav., II. 94. Nor is it a thing extraordinary for riuers to lose their channels.

180 1709.  Prior, Chloe Hunting, 3. She lost her way, And thro’ the Woods uncertain chanc’d to stray.

181 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 373. Pepys and his wife, travelling in their own coach, lost their way between Newbury and Reading.

182 1893.  Fam. Herald, 132/1. After she had walked a little farther, she lost trail altogether.

183   † f.  To allow to escape from one’s power or influence. Obs.

184 a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 378. Instead of prevailing on the Prince, he lost him so entirely, that all his endeavours afterwards could never beget any confidence in him.

185   g.  To let slip one’s knowledge of (a language).

186 1718.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 16 March. I am in great danger of losing my English.

187   6.  To spend unprofitably or in vain; to waste, get no return or result for (one’s labor or efforts); to let slip (opportunities) without using them to good purpose; to waste (time).

188 a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, xxvi. 20. Suffre that thou suffirs for god and of god, for wa is þaim þat losis suffrynge.

189 c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, II. 1700 (1749). Lest tyme I loste, I dar not with yow dele.

190 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 5153. Fully on me she lost hir lore.

191 c. 1450.  Merlin, 6. And so shold ye loose youre tyme.

192 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XVIII. xvi. 754. She is not the fyrst that hath loste her payn vpon yow.

193 1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxvi. 13. The leill labour lost, and leill seruice.

194 1581.  Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 26. Now to loose no more time about this point, I saie vnto you, yt [etc.].

195 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 24. But, when she saw her prayers nought prevaile Shee backe retourned with some labour lost.

196 1615.  W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 12. All your labour past and to come about an Orchard is lost vnlesse you fence well.

197 1632.  Sanderson, Twelve Serm., 233. True zeale … will not loose the opportunity of doing what it ought, for waiting till others beginne.

198 1634.  Milton, Comus, 271. Ill is lost that praise That is addrest to unattending Ears.

199 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 127. Fall to, you know Half an Hour is soon lost at Dinner.

200 1770.  Foote, Lame Lover, II. Wks. 1799, II. 80. The constables will be here in a trice, so you have not a moment to lose.

201 1819.  Crabbe, T. of Hall, IX. How much she grieved to lose the given day In dissipation wild, in visitation gay.

202 1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, v. There is no time to be lost.

203 1896.  G. Boothby, In Strange Comp., II. vi. 55/1. A … fellow who never lost a chance of making himself objectionable.

204   b.  To be lost on or upon: to have no effect upon, to fail to influence.

205 1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 190. On whom my paines Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost.

206 [1692.  Burnet, Past. Care, ix. 111. Niceties of Style are lost before a common Auditory.]

207 1697.  Dryden, Æneid, XI. 1059. Thir Stratagems, and Tricks of little Hearts Are lost on me.

208 1833.  Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, xi. 131. Your kindness is not lost upon me.

209 1844.  Disraeli, Coningsby, I. iii. I. 32. Nothing, however, was ever lost upon Lord Monmouth. No one had a more retentive memory, or a more observant mind.

210 1900.  J. A. H. Murray, Evolution Eng. Lexicogr., 5–6. The real humour of the situation, which was unfortunately lost upon the House of Commons, was, [etc.].

211   7.  To fail to obtain (something one might have had): occas. const. to. Also, to fail to catch (a train, etc.). † To lose aim: to miss one’s mark.

212 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 185. He schal lese [MS. γ luse] hevene þat wil hem take awey.

213 1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 153. Adam for Pride loste his pris.

214 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., iii. 363. Wheder I lose or I wyn In fayth, thi felowship.

215 a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 141 b. Meanyng not to lose so great a prey.

216 1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., I. iv. 78. Our doubts are traitors And makes vs loose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 71. Shall I do that which all the Parthian Darts, (Though Enemy) lost ayme, and could not.

217 1611.  Bible, Matt. x. 42. Hee shall in no wise lose his reward.

218 1632.  Massinger, Maid of Honour, V. i. (1632), K 2. Cam. … If you forsweare your selfes wee shall not prosper. I’ll rather lose my longing.

219 1650.  Baxter, Saint’s R., iv. (1656), 132. Where God loses his praise, man will certainly lose his comforts.

220 1711.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 12 May. Mr. Secretary … brought me to our town’s end in his coach: So I lost my walk.

221 1775.  Harris, Philos. Arrangem., Wks. (1841), 339. The swift-footed Salius lost the prize to young Euryalus.

222 1830.  J. Jekyll, Corr. (1894), 256. Rather than lose her legacy, she hung him on to the window bar.

223 1884.  Congregationalist, June, 493. I once nearly lost a train on account of it.

224 1900.  F. Anstey, Brass Bottle, ii. 22. ‘A guinea. For the last time. You’ll lose it, sir,’ said the auctioneer to the little man.

225   b.  To fail to apprehend by sight or hearing; not to ‘catch’ (words, points of a discourse).

226 1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, III. i. 32. Then go we neare her that her eare loose nothing.

227 1604.  E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. vii. 97. Being too farre off from any thing, wee loose the sight, and too neere likewise, we cannot see it.

228 1784.  Cowper, Task, III. 599. Fearing each to lose Some note of Nature’s music from his lips.

229 Mod.  I did not lose a word of his speech.

230   † c.  To fail to attend; to ‘miss.’ Obs.

231   Also formerly at Cambridge University, To lose one’s week: not to be allowed to count towards the obligatory number of weeks of residence a week in which the required number of chapels had not been kept.

232 1711.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 4 Aug. I lost church to-day.

233 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, Prol. 161. They lost their weeks; they vext the souls of deans.

234   d.  Hunting. To fail to catch (an animal).

235 1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 68 b. I had rather (as they say lose the Hare) then to take such infinite paines as to hunt so farre for hir.

236 1883.  Ld. Saltoun, Scraps, I. 104. The greyhounds took up the chase, and either killed or lost her.

237   8.  To be deprived of (something) in a contest or game; to forfeit (a stake); hence, to be defeated in (a game, battle, lawsuit); to fail to carry (a motion). Also in Cricket: To have (a wicket) taken by an opponent. Const. to.

238 a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, liii. 18. She lost ye game wherof Huon was ioyfull.

239 1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 210. Foughte a battell in Piedmont, with the Frenchemen … and lost the felde.

240 1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 538. While we reason here, A Royall battell might be wonne and lost. Ibid. (1607), Cor., I. vii. 4. If we loose the field, We cannot keepe the Towne.

241 1671.  Lady M. Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 22. Wee play sometimes at trante a courante where my old ill lucke follows mee to loose my money.

242 1710.  Act 9 Anne, c. 19 § 2. Any Person or Persons … who shall at any Time or sitting by playing at Cards … lose to any One or more … Persons … the Sum … of Ten Pounds.

243 1799.  H. K. White, Lett. to bro. Neville. The Corporation versus Gee, which we … lost.

244 1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Our Parish, iv. The motion was lost by a majority of two.

245 1843.  Blackw. Mag., LIV. 171. I lost my wicket to the first ball.

246 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, VI. 9. When our side was vanquish’d and my cause For ever lost.

247 1872.  Punch, 27 Jan., 41/2. We never lost a game to a professional at billiards without hearing him assign his triumph chiefly to his flukes.

248 1885.  Manch. Exam., 10 July, 5/1. The Southerners had scored 78 without losing a wicket.

249   b.  absol. To be defeated; also, to forfeit money by defeat in a game.

250 a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 116. Accordyng to the chaance of war, the one part gat, and the other lost.

251 1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 730. A captiue victor that hath lost in gaine. Ibid. (1605), Lear, V. iii. 15. Who looses, and who wins; who’s in, who’s out.

252 1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 21. Their game was Primera…; my mother, shee got the money, for my father was willing to lose to her.

253 1669.  Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 11. I heere your horse hath lost.

254 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 198. She lost at one Sitting to the Tune of a hundred Guineas.

255 1822.  Shelley, Calderon’s Magico Prodig., i. 151. The battle’s loss may profit those who lose.

256 1885.  O. W. Holmes, Jr., in Law Q. Rev., April, 172. Tacitus says that the Germans would gamble their personal liberty and pay with their persons if they lost.

257   9.  Causal senses. a. To cause the loss of: often const. dative of the person suffering loss.

258 1428.  Waterf. Arch., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 295. Whatt ever man … bringe warre upon the citie whereby they bene prayed and losid thair goods.

259 1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. i. 187. Pride, Haughtinesse [etc.],… The least of which, haunting a Nobleman, Loseth mens hearts. Ibid. (1602), Ham., I. iii. 76. Lone oft loses both it selfe and friend. Ibid. (1605), Lear, I. i. 125.

260 a. 1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, IV. iv. I pray that this action loose not Philaster the hearts of the people.

261 1640–1.  Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855), 76. If they [shoes] come not with expedition the want of thame will lose all our sogers.

262 1699.  Wotton, Lett., in Bentley, Phal., Pref. 12. I did not think that a sufficient reason, why I should lose that Treatise to the World.

263 1763.  Hoyle, Whist, 25. Do not overtrump him, which may probably lose you two or three Tricks.

264 1803.  J. Marshall, Const. Opin. (1839), 8. A loss of the commission would lose the office.

265 1871.  Freeman, Hist. Ess., Ser. I. vii. 195. The crimes of John lost him all the northern part of his French possessions.

266   † b.  To cause (a person) to ‘lose his way’; to bewilder. Obs.

267 1648.  Eikon Bas., xvi. 157. Nor are constant Formes of Prayers more likely to flat, and hinder the Spirit of prayer,… then un-premeditated and confused uariety to distract, and lose it.

268 1692.  S. Patrick, Answ. Touchstone, 15. He only endeavours to lose his Reader in a mist of Words.

269   † c.  ? To cause to be forgotten. Obs.

270 1667.  Dryden, Tempest, IV. iv. Have fifteen years so lost me to your knowledge, That you retain no memory of Prospero?

271 1724.  Wodrow Corr. (1843), III. 130. It requires a much better memory than mine to resume such long work, and one harangue loses the former to me.

272   † d.  To reject (a bill in parliament). Obs.

273 1663.  Pepys, Diary, 26 July. A Bill for the Lord’s day, which it seems the Lords have lost, and so cannot be passed.

274   10.  refl. (with corresponding passive).

275   a.  To lose one’s way, go astray. Also fig.

276 1535.  Coverdale, Ps. cxviii[i]. 176. I go astraye as a shepe that is lost.

277 1581.  Lambarde, Eiren., IV. iv. (1602), 390. The hearer would be many times lost, before I shoulde come to the end.

278 1581.  Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 14. But to what end goe I to loose my selfe in the intricate labirinth of the abuses & disorders of our time.

279 1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. ii. 174. Like one lost in a Thornie Wood.

280 1604.  E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, I. xxi. 69. They must of necessitie loose themselves, having no knowledge where they were.

281 1643.  Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 9. I love to lose my selfe in a mystery.

282 1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 561. In wandring mazes lost.

283 1780.  J. Harris, Philol. Enq., Wks. (1841), 484. Arabian poetry is so immense a field, that he who enters it is in danger of being lost.

284 1859.  Tennyson, Elaine, 225. O’er these waste downs whereon I lost myself.

285   b.  To lose one’s (or its) identity; to become merged (in something else). lit. and fig.

286 1604.  E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. vi. 93. Ten great rivers which loose themselves entring into that Lake.

287 1781.  J. Moore, View Soc. It. (1790), I. xli. 445. The Via Sacra was a street leading to the Forum, and lost in it.

288 1796.  Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., vii. (1813), 195. All surprise was shortly lost in other feelings.

289 1822.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Detached Th. on Bks. & Read. I love to lose myself in other men’s minds.

290 1871–4.  Hort, The Way, etc. ii. (1894), 62. By the Resurrection and Ascension His Apostleship had been visibly lost in His Sonship.

291   c.  To become deeply absorbed or engrossed (in thought, etc.); to be bewildered, overwhelmed (in wonder); † to be distracted, lose one’s wits (from emotion or excitement).

292 1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, V. v. 339. They were lost in their own imaginations and conceipts.

293 1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 71. Be not lost So poorely in your thoughts. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 121. These strong Egyptian Fetters I must breake, Or loose my selfe in dotage.

294 1626.  Shirley, Maid’s Rev., IV. i. (1639), G 2 b. I almost lose my selfe In joy to meete him.

295 1728.  Addison, Hymn, ‘When all thy mercies.’ Transported with the view, I’m lost In wonder, love, and praise.

296 1798.  Landor, Gebir, I. 97. I neither feed the flock nor watch the fold; How can I, lost in love?

297 1809.  W. Irving, Knickerb., III. i. (1820), 153. As I pace the darkened chamber and lose myself in melancholy musings.

298 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 231. He seemed to be lost in the contemplation of something great.

299 1890.  Hall Caine, Bondman, III. vi. Her voice was low at first, but she soon lost herself, and then it rose above the other voices.

300 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 239. For a time they become lost and dazed.

301   d.  To become hidden from view, obscured (in clouds, etc.).

302 1697.  Dryden, Æneid, VIII. 79. When the setting Stars are lost in Day.

303 1725.  Pope, Odyss., VII. 354. Woody mountains half in vapours lost.

304 1784.  Cowper, Task, I. 194. Rills that … lose themselves at length In matted grass.

305 1845.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 11. A vast ocean of tillage … losing itself in the vapour of the distant horizon.

306 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, I. 227. A pillar’d porch, the bases lost In laurel.

307   † e.  Of water: To leak away. Obs.

308 1712.  J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 189. The Vials … are joined to the Pipes with Wax or Mastick, so that the Water rises into the Vials, without losing itself any where. Ibid., 194. Gravel, or Sand-Stone, upon which the Water will run without losing itself.

309   11.  Comb., with sense ‘one who or something that loses…,’ as † lose-all, † -office; so † lose-time a., time-wasting.

310 1603.  Florio, Montaigne, I. xxv. (1632), 78. Jugling tricks, or other idle lose-time sports.

311 1623.  Penkethman, Handf. Hon., IV. xlii. More loue to purchase, each good turne requite, Lest a Loose-office thou be termed right.

312 1650.  W. Brough, Sacr. Princ. (1659), 220. The third [heir] is commonly a lose-all.

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