Meanings
- idiomaticNot incarcerated or in captivity; not under control.
Went to a bongo party completely by mistake / there were coons and thugs and fat sheboons with all the pavement apes / When I got to the bongo party, it smelled of jenkem juice / someone left the cave door open, there were chimps on the loose.
2022 April 19, Skeeter, “Biden Admin To Fund Crack Pipe Distribution To Advance ?Racial Equity?”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet) - archaicslangOut on a spree, or in search of adventure.
Sometimes he dispensed water to men who “looked as if they had been on the loose all night.”
1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861Synonyms: on the run, on the lam
- archaicslangEarning a living by prostitution.
Many doctors practising in large cities dwell on the difficulty of checking clandestine prostitution, which is unfortunately on the increase in all crowded centres, where numbers of women are on the loose, over whom the police have little or no hold.
1868, The Indian Medical Gazette, volume 3, page 211 more example
Those who have had good nursing, and all that, and the advantages of a sound education, who have a position to lose, prospects to blight, and relations to dishonour, may be blamed for going on the loose, but I’ll be hanged if I think that priest or moralist is to come down on me with the sledge-hammer of their denunciation.
1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseOut on a spree, or in search of adventure.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish karkuteillä, vapaalla jalalla
- karkuteillänot in captivity
- vapaalla jalallanot in captivity
- irrallaannot in captivity
- valloillaannot in captivity
German sich frei bewegend, frei herumlaufend
- sich frei bewegendnot in captivity
- frei herumlaufendnot in captivity
- frei umherziehendnot in captivity
Greek εκτός ελέγχου
- εκτός ελέγχου (ektós elénchou)not in captivity
Hungarian szabadlábon, szökésben
- szabadlábonnot in captivity
- szökésbennot in captivity
- szabadonnot in captivity
Norwegian Bokmål på frifot
- på frifotnot in captivity
Polish na wolności
- na wolnościnot in captivity
Portuguese à solta
- à soltanot in captivity
Russian на во́ле
- на во́ле (na vóle)not in captivity
Scottish Gaelic mu sgaoil
- mu sgaoilnot in captivity
Spanish suelto, libre
- sueltonot in captivity
- librenot in captivity
- liberadonot in captivity
Swedish på fri fot, lös
- på fri fotnot in captivity
- lösnot in captivity
Turkish firari
- firarinot in captivity
Cite this entry
on the loose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20loose
“on the loose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20loose. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the loose,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20loose.
Source: on the loose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.