lose - What does it mean?

Verb

To cause (something) to cease to be in one's possession or capability due to unfortunate or unknown circumstances, events or reasons.

* {{quote-book|year=1963|author=(Margery Allingham)|title=(The China Governess)

|chapter=19 citation |passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost , by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}

* {{quote-news|year=2011|date=April 15|author=Saj Chowdhury|work=BBC Sport

|title= Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest |passage=Forest, who lost striker Kris Boyd to injury seconds before half-time, produced little after the break, with a Tyson sliced shot from 12 yards their only opportunity of note.}}

To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.

I lost my way in the forest.

* Shakespeare

He hath lost his fellows.

To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.

To fail to win (a game, competition, trial, etc).

* Dryden

I fought the battle bravely which I lost , / And lost it but to Macedonians.

To shed (weight).

To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).

To be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer.

To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.

(informal) To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.

Of a clock, to run slower than expected.

To cause (someone) the loss of something; to deprive of.

* Baxter

O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory.

* 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 556:

This lost Catholicism any semblance of a claim to special status, and also highlighted the gains which other religious formations had derived from the Revolution.

To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.

I lost a part of what he said.

(archaic) To cause to part with; to deprive of.

* Sir W. Temple

How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?