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Fine, light particles or fibers; loose, volatile matter. Fuzz ball, a kind of fungus or mushroom, which, when pressed, bursts and scatters a fine dust; a puffball.

A coarse frock or loose upper garment formerly worn by Jews; a mean dress. Shak.

incur, or receive, as loss, harm, or damage. [Obs. or Ironical] Ye should . . . not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. Acts xxvii. 21. Gained day, the calendar day gained in sailing eastward around the earth. -- To gain ground, to make progress; to advance in any undertaking; to prevail; t…

Loose hose or breeches; leather leg quards. The word is used loosely and often in a jocose sense.

Gay to extravagance; flighty. It makes the mind loose and garish. South. -- Gar"ish*ly, adv. -- Garish*ness, n. Jer. Taylor.

Loose hose or breeches; galligaskins. [Obs.] Shak.

Loose; dissipated; lewd. [Colloq.]

limited to a precise import; not specific; vague; indefinite; lax in signification; as, a loose and general expression.

Teutonic. [A loose sense]

A loose hydrated form of silica, a variety of opal, deposited in concretionary cauliflowerlike masses, around some hot springs and geysers.

To produce glacial effects upon, as in the scoring of rocks, transportation of loose material, etc. Glaciated rocks, rocks whose surfaces have been smoothed, furrowed, or striated, by the action of ice.

A sword; -- used poetically and loosely. The glaive which he did wield. Spenser.

A device, as a loosely fitted plug, which is driven through a pipe by the pressure of the contents behind the plug to clear away obstructions.

A disease of the teeth, which causes them to loosen and fall out of their sockets.

it should be master of Asia, Alexander the Great averted the ill omen of his inability to loosen it by cutting it with his sword. Hence, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a difficulty by bold and energetic measures.

A loose, flowing upper garment; especially:

A name formerly applied rather loosely to certain dark-colored igneous rocks, including diorite, diabase, etc.

A loose, earthy deposit from water, found in the cavities or clefts of rocks, mostly white, but sometimes red or yellow, from a mixture of clay or ocher. P. Cleaveland.

rsejockeying, tinkering, etc. Cf. Bohemian, Romany. Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me to the very heart of loss. Shak.

Properly, a short hauberk, but often used loosely for the hauberk. Chaucer.