Fast and loose

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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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.
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   {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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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