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lose

[looz] /luz/
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verb (used with object), lost, losing.
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; She needs to lose those bangs!
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 or other medical personnel) to fail to preserve the life of (a patient): The doctor came out of the operating room and sadly said, “So sorry. We lost him.”.
22.
(of a woman) to fail to be delivered of (a live baby) because of miscarriage, complications in childbirth, etc.
verb (used without object), lost, losing.
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 phrases
27.
lose out, to suffer defeat or loss; fail to obtain something desired:
He got through the preliminaries, but lost out in the finals.
Idioms
28.
lose face. face (def 51).
29.
lose it, Informal. to suddenly lose control of one's emotions:
When he said he loved me, I nearly lost it.
Origin of lose
Middle English
Old English
900
before 900; Middle English losen, Old English -lēosan; replacing Middle English lesen, itself also reflecting Old English -lēosan; cognate with German verlieren, Gothic fraliusan to lose. See loss
Related forms
relose, verb (used with object), relost, relosing.
Can be confused
loose, loosen, lose, loss.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2016.
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Examples from the Web for lose
Contemporary Examples
Historical Examples

  • I don't want to lose my job, not yet, before I've seen half the Fair.'

    Against Odds Lawrence L. Lynch

  • All time he think he no speak to her for fear he lose sight of elephant.

    Still Jim Honor Willsie Morrow

  • Labor is wealth, and if we lose a fourth of our time we are one-fourth poorer.

    Sophisms of the Protectionists Frederic Bastiat

  • The "Law of Manu" can lose its authority where it is favorable to women!

    Folkways William Graham Sumner

  • Let me assure you that he is not mistaken when he declares that there is no time to lose.

    Aladdin of London Sir Max Pemberton
British Dictionary definitions for lose

lose

/luːz/
verb (mainly transitive) loses, losing, lost
1.
to part with or come to be without, as through theft, accident, negligence, etc
2.
to fail to keep or maintain: to lose one's balance
3.
to suffer the loss or deprivation of: to lose a parent
4.
to cease to have or possess
5.
to fail to get or make use of: to lose a chance
6.
(also intransitive) to fail to gain or win (a contest, game, etc): to lose the match
7.
to fail to see, hear, perceive, or understand: I lost the gist of his speech
8.
to waste: to lose money gambling
9.
to wander from so as to be unable to find: to lose one's way
10.
to cause the loss of: his delay lost him the battle
11.
to allow to go astray or out of sight: we lost him in the crowd
12.
(usually passive) to absorb or engross: he was lost in contemplation
13.
(usually passive) to cause the death or destruction of: two men were lost in the attack
14.
to outdistance or elude: he soon lost his pursuers
15.
(intransitive) to decrease or depreciate in value or effectiveness: poetry always loses in translation
16.
(also intransitive) (of a timepiece) to run slow (by a specified amount): the clock loses ten minutes every day
17.
(of a physician) to fail to sustain the life of (a patient)
18.
(of a woman) to fail to give birth to (a viable baby), esp as the result of a miscarriage
19.
(motor racing, slang) to lose control of (the car), as on a bend: he lost it going into Woodcote
20.
(slang) lose it, to lose control of oneself or one's temper
Derived Forms
losable, adjective
losableness, noun
Word Origin
Old English losian to perish; related to Old English -lēosan as in forlēosan to forfeit. Compare loose
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word Origin and History for lose
v.

Old English losian "be lost, perish," from los "destruction, loss," from Proto-Germanic *lausa- (cf. Old Norse los "the breaking up of an army;" Old English forleosan "to lose, destroy," Old Frisian forliasa, Old Saxon farliosan, Middle Dutch verliesen, Old High German firliosan, German verlieren), from PIE root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart, untie, separate" (cf. Sanskrit lunati "cuts, cuts off," lavitram "sickle;" Greek lyein "to loosen, untie, slacken," lysus "a loosening;" Latin luere "to loose, release, atone for, expiate").

Replaced related leosan (a class II strong verb whose past participle loren survives in forlorn and lovelorn), from Proto-Germanic *leusanan (cf. Old High German virliosan, German verlieren, Old Frisian urliasa, Gothic fraliusan "to lose").

Transitive sense of "to part with accidentally" is from c.1200. Meaning "fail to maintain" is from mid-15c. Meaning "to be defeated" (in a game, etc.) is from 1530s. Meaning "to cause (someone) to lose his way" is from 1640s. To lose (one's) mind "become insane" is attested from c.1500. To lose out "fail" is 1858, American English. Related: Lost; losing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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lose in Technology

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!"
[Jargon File]
(1995-04-19)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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Idioms and Phrases with lose

lose

also see:
also see under:
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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