LOSE, v.t. looz. pret. and pp. lost.

1. To forfeit any thing in contest; not to win. We'll talk with them too, / Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out. – Shak.
2. To decline; to fail. Wisdom in discourse with her / Loses discountenanced, and like folly shows. – Milton.

1. To mislay; to part or be separated from a thing, so as to have no knowledge of the place where it is; as, to lose a book or a paper; to lose a record; to lose a dollar or a ducat.
2. To forfeit by unsuccessful contest; as, to lose money in gaming.
3. Not to gain or win; as, to lose a battle, that is, to be defeated.
4. To be deprived of; as, to lose men in battle; to lose an arm or a leg by a shot or by amputation; to lose one's life or honor.
5. To forfeit, as a penalty. Our first parents lost the favor of God by their apostasy.
6. To suffer diminution or waste of. If the salt hath lose its savor, wherewith shell it be salted? – Matth. v.
7. To ruin; to destroy. The woman that deliberates is lost. – Addison.
8. To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; as, to lose the way.
9. To bewilder. Lose in the maze of words. – Pope.
10. To possess do longer; to be deprived of; contrary to, keep; as, to lose a valuable trade.
11. Not to employ or enjoy; to waste. Titus sighed to lose a day. Th' unhappy have but hours, and these they lose. – Dryden.
12. To waste; to squander; to throw away; as, to lose a fortune by gaming, or by dissipation.
13. To suffer to vanish from view or perception. We lost sight of the land at noon. I lost my companion in the crowd. Like following life in creatures we dissect, / We lose it in the moment we detect. – Pope.
14. To ruin; to destroy by shipwreck, &c. The Albion was lost on the coast of Ireland, April 22, 1822. The admiral lost three ships in a tempest.
15. To cause to perish; as, to be lost at sea.
16. To employ ineffectually; to throw away; to waste. Instruction is often lost on the dull; admonition is last on the profligate. It is often the fate of projectors to lose their labor.
17. To be freed from. His scaly back the bunch has got / Which Edwin lost before. – Parnell.
18. To fail to obtain. He shalt in no wise lose his reward. Matth. i. To lose one's self, to be bewildered; also, to slumber; to have the memory and reason suspended.

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 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. To ruin; to destroy; as destroy; as, the ship was lost on the ledge.
   
   

   The woman that deliberates is lost. Addison.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.