The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Loose \Loose\ (l[=oo]s), a. [Compar. Looser (l[=oo]s"[~e]r);
superl. Loosest.] [OE. loos, lous, laus, Icel. lauss; akin
to OD. loos, D. los, AS. le['a]s false, deceitful, G. los,
loose, Dan. & Sw. l["o]s, Goth. laus, and E. lose. [root]127.
See Lose, and cf. Leasing falsehood.]
1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed,
or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.
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Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat.
--Shak.
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2. Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty,
habit, etc.; -- with from or of.
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Now I stand
Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts ?
--Addison.
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3. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.
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4. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of
loose texture.
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With horse and chariots ranked in loose array.
--Milton.
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5. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose
style, or way of reasoning.
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The comparison employed . . . must be considered
rather as a loose analogy than as an exact
scientific explanation. --Whewel.
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6. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to
some standard of right.
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The loose morality which he had learned. --Sir W.
Scott.
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7. Unconnected; rambling.
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Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose
and unconnected pages. --I. Watts.
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8. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. --Locke.
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9. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.
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Loose ladies in delight. --Spenser.
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10. Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language;
as, a loose epistle. --Dryden.
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At loose ends, not in order; in confusion; carelessly
managed.
Fast and loose. See under Fast.
To break loose. See under Break.
Loose pulley. (Mach.) See Fast and loose pulleys, under
Fast.
To let loose, to free from restraint or confinement; to set
at liberty.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fast \Fast\, a. [Compar. Faster; superl. Fastest.] [OE.,
firm, strong, not loose, AS. f[ae]st; akin to OS. fast, D.
vast, OHG. fasti, festi, G. fest, Icel. fastr, Sw. & Dan.
fast, and perh. to E. fetter. The sense swift comes from the
idea of keeping close to what is pursued; a Scandinavian use.
Cf. Fast, adv., Fast, v., Avast.]
1. Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose,
unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the
door.
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There is an order that keeps things fast. --Burke.
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2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art;
impregnable; strong.
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Outlaws . . . lurking in woods and fast places.
--Spenser.
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3. Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or
alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.
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4. Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by
washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.
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5. Tenacious; retentive. [Obs.]
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Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their
smells. --Bacon.
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6. Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.
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All this while in a most fast sleep. --Shak.
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7. Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast
horse.
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8. Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint;
reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a
fast liver. --Thackeray.
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9. In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make
possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast
racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard
table, etc.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Fast and loose, now cohering, now disjoined; inconstant,
esp. in the phrases to play at fast and loose, to play
fast and loose, to act with giddy or reckless inconstancy
or in a tricky manner; to say one thing and do another.
"Play fast and loose with faith." --Shak.
Fast and loose pulleys (Mach.), two pulleys placed side by
side on a revolving shaft, which is driven from another
shaft by a band, and arranged to disengage and re["e]ngage
the machinery driven thereby. When the machinery is to be
stopped, the band is transferred from the pulley fixed to
the shaft to the pulley which revolves freely upon it, and
vice versa.
Hard and fast (Naut.), so completely aground as to be
immovable.
To make fast (Naut.), to make secure; to fasten firmly, as
a vessel, a rope, or a door.
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Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
71 Moby Thesaurus words for "fast and loose":
adrift, afloat, alternating, amorphous, capricious, changeable,
changeful, desultory, deviable, dizzy, eccentric, erratic, fickle,
fitful, flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuating, freakish,
giddy, impetuous, impulsive, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive,
infirm, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, mazy, mercurial,
moody, rambling, restless, roving, scatterbrained, shapeless,
shifting, shifty, shuffling, spasmodic, spineless, unaccountable,
uncertain, uncontrolled, undependable, undisciplined, unfixed,
unpredictable, unreliable, unrestrained, unsettled, unstable,
unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, vacillating,
vagrant, variable, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile,
wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical,
wishy-washy