lose

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To stop having something, often by accident.

   If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.

2. 2
   verb

   To be beaten in a game, competition, or argument.

   The team scored four goals but still managed to lose.

3. 3
   verb

   To be unable to find your way or to find something.

   I lost my way in the forest.

4. 4
   verb

   To no longer be able to follow or see someone or something.

   The police lost the robber they were chasing.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Lose is an Old English word related historically to Middle English loose and to loss. The source also connects this word family with the suffix -less, which carries the sense “without.”

From Middle English losen, from Old English losian, from Proto-West Germanic *losōn, from Proto-Germanic *lusōną, *luzōną, from Proto-Germanic *lusą. The modern pronunciation with /uː/ (instead of the /oʊ~əʊ/ that would be expected from Early Modern /ɔː/) is due to conflation with loose.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary