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lose
(redirected from lose marbles)

   Also found in: Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
lose  (lz)
v. lost (lôst, lst), los·ing, los·es
v.tr.
1. To be unsuccessful in retaining possession of; mislay: He's always losing his car keys.
2.
a. To be deprived of (something one has had): lost her art collection in the fire; lost her job.
b. To be left alone or desolate because of the death of: lost his wife.
c. To be unable to keep alive: a doctor who has lost very few patients.
3. To be unable to keep control or allegiance of: lost his temper at the meeting; is losing supporters by changing his mind.
4. To fail to win; fail in: lost the game; lost the court case.
5. To fail to use or take advantage of: Don't lose a chance to improve your position.
6. To fail to hear, see, or understand: We lost the plane in the fog. I lost her when she started speaking about thermodynamics.
7.
a. To let (oneself) become unable to find the way.
b. To remove (oneself), as from everyday reality into a fantasy world.
8. To rid oneself of: lost five pounds.
9. To consume aimlessly; waste: lost a week in idle occupations.
10. To wander from or become ignorant of: lose one's way.
11.
a. To elude or outdistance: lost their pursuers.
b. To be outdistanced by: chased the thieves but lost them.
12. To become slow by (a specified amount of time). Used of a timepiece.
13. To cause or result in the loss of: Failure to reply to the advertisement lost her the job.
14. To cause to be destroyed. Usually used in the passive: Both planes were lost in the crash.
15. To cause to be damned.
v.intr.
1. To suffer loss.
2. To be defeated.
3. To operate or run slow. Used of a timepiece.
Phrasal Verb:
lose out
To fail to achieve or receive an expected gain.
Idioms:
lose it Slang
1. To lose control; blow up.
2. To become deranged or mentally disturbed.
3. To become less capable or proficient; decline.
lose out on
To miss (an opportunity, for example).
lose time
1. To operate too slowly. Used of a timepiece.
2. To delay advancement.

[Middle English losen, from Old English losian, to perish, from los, loss; see leu- in Indo-European roots.]

lose
Verb
[losing, lost]
1. to come to be without, through carelessness or by accident or theft
2. to fail to keep or maintain: to lose control
3. to suffer the loss of: he will lose his redundancy money
4. to get rid of: I've lost a stone this summer
5. to fail to get or make use of: Lysenko never lost a chance to show his erudition
6. to be defeated in a fight or competition
7. to fail to see, hear, or understand: she lost sight of him
8. to waste: so I'd lost a fortune
9. to go astray from: psychologists lose the trail
10. to allow to go astray or out of sight: he lost, at the Gare de Lyon, a case with most of his early manuscripts
11. to cause the loss of: I came in to have the gear attended to, which lost me a lap
12. to absorb or engross: lost in thought
13. to die or cause the death of: two lost as yacht sinks in storm
14. to outdistance or escape from: there's some satisfaction in knowing that they've lost us
15. (of a timepiece) to run slow (by a specified amount) [Old English losian to perish]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Verb1.lose - fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense; "She lost her purse when she left it unattended on her seat"
white-out, whiteout - lose daylight visibility in heavy fog, snow, or rain
sleep off - get rid of by sleeping; "sleep off a hangover"
keep, hold on - retain possession of; "Can I keep my old stuffed animals?"; "She kept her maiden name after she married"
2.lose - fail to win; "We lost the battle but we won the war"
go down - be defeated; "If America goes down, the free world will go down, too"
drop - lose (a game); "The Giants dropped 11 of their first 13"
remain down, take the count - be counted out; remain down while the referee counts to ten
drop one's serve - lose a game in which one is serving
win - be the winner in a contest or competition; be victorious; "He won the Gold Medal in skating"; "Our home team won"; "Win the game"
3.lose - suffer the loss of a person through death or removal; "She lost her husband in the war"; "The couple that wanted to adopt the child lost her when the biological parents claimed her"
suffer - experience (emotional) pain; "Every time her husband gets drunk, she suffers"
4.lose - place (something) where one cannot find it again; "I misplaced my eyeglasses"
lay, place, put, set, position, pose - put into a certain place or abstract location; "Put your things here"; "Set the tray down"; "Set the dogs on the scent of the missing children"; "Place emphasis on a certain point"
5.lose - miss from one's possessions; lose sight of; "I've lost my glasses again!"
forget, leave - leave behind unintentionally; "I forgot my umbrella in the restaurant"; "I left my keys inside the car and locked the doors"
regain, find - come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost; "Did you find your glasses?"; "I cannot find my gloves!"
6.lose - allow to go out of sight; "The detective lost the man he was shadowing after he had to stop at a red light"
7.loselose - fail to make money in a business; make a loss or fail to profit; "I lost thousands of dollars on that bad investment!"; "The company turned a loss after the first year"
break even - make neither profit nor loss
turn a profit, profit - make a profit; gain money or materially; "The company has not profited from the merger"
8.lose - fail to get or obtain; "I lost the opportunity to spend a year abroad"
gain, win, acquire - win something through one's efforts; "I acquired a passing knowledge of Chinese"; "Gain an understanding of international finance"
9.lose - retreat
retrogress, regress, retrograde - get worse or fall back to a previous condition
10.lose - fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind; "I missed that remark"; "She missed his point"; "We lost part of what he said"
overlook - look past, fail to notice
11.lose - be set at a disadvantage; "This author really suffers in translation"
decline, worsen - grow worse; "Conditions in the slum worsened"
suffer - get worse; "His grades suffered"

lose
verb 1. be defeated, be beaten, lose out, be worsted, come to grief, come a cropper (informal) be the loser, suffer defeat, get the worst of, take a licking (informal)
verb 2. mislay, miss, drop, forget, displace, be deprived of, fail to keep, lose track of, suffer loss, misplace
verb 3. forfeit, miss, fail, yield, default, be deprived of, pass up (informal) lose out on (informal)
verb 5. stray from, miss, confuse, wander from
verb 6. escape from, pass, leave behind, evade, lap, duck, dodge, shake off, elude, slip away from, outstrip, throw off, outrun, outdistance, give someone the slip
Translations
Spanish lose [pt, pp lost] [luːz, lɔst] vtperder
viperder, ser vencido;
to lose (time) [clock] → atrasarse;
to lose no time (in doing sth) → no tardar (en hacer algo);
to get lost [object] → extraviarse; [person] → perderse
lose out visalir perdiendo

French lose [lost , pt, pp ] [luːz, lɔst] vtperdre [+ opportunity]; manquer, perdre [+ pursuers]; distancer, semer
viperdre;
I've lost my wallet/passport → j'ai perdu mon portefeuille/passeport;
to lose (time) [clock] → retarder;
to lose no time (in doing sth) → ne pas perdre de temps (à faire qch);
to get lost vi [person] → se perdre;
my watch has got lost → ma montre est perdue
lose out viêtre perdant(e)

German lose [luːz] [lost , pt, pp ] vtverlieren [+ opportunity]; verpassen [+ pursuers]; abschütteln
viverlieren;
to lose (time) [clock] → nachgehen;
to lose weight → abnehmen;
to lose 5 pounds → 5 Pfund abnehmen;
to lose sight of sth (also fig) → etw aus den Augen verlieren

Italian lose [pt lost, pp ] [luːz, lɔst] vtperdere [+ pursuers]; distanziare
viperdere;
to lose (time) [clock] → ritardare;
to lose no time (in doing sth) → non perdere tempo (a fare qc);
to get lost [person] → perdersi, smarrirsi; [object] → andare perso or perduto

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? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
``The more experience she garnered,'' Rosenfeld tells us, ``the more eyeballs she saw lolling about in their sockets like so many lose marbles - the more it seemed to her that the state of arousal and the state of amity were two distinct principalities with no diplomatic ties.
 
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