See Also: lost(dictionary)
LOST(law)
Lost(medicine)
LOST OR NOT LOST(law)
lost-wax casting(encyclopedia)
lost property(dictionary)
lost 2, adjective(dictionary)
Paradise Lost(dictionary)
long-lost(dictionary)
Lost Generation, the(dictionary)

lost (iou)



lost adjective & noun. LME.
[pa. pple of LOSE verb.]
A. adjective.
Of time, effort, opportunities, etc.: not used advantageously; spent in vain; wasted. LME.
Having gone astray, having lost the way; fig. bewildered, puzzled. Also, of which a person has been deprived; not retained in possession; no longer to be found. LME.
That has perished or been destroyed; ruined, esp. morally or spiritually; (of a soul) damned. M16.
Of a battle, game, etc.: in which a defeat has been sustained. E18.
Phrases: be lost on fail to influence or draw the attention of, not be noticed or appreciated by. be lost without be unable to cope without, have great difficulty if deprived of. get lost slang cease to be annoying, go away (usu. in imper.). legion of the lost ones: see LEGION noun. lost in the shuffle: see SHUFFLE noun 3b. lost in thought: see THOUGHT noun1. lost to (a) that has passed from the possession of, that has been taken from; (b) no longer affected by a sense of duty, shame, etc., with regard to. no love lost between: see LOVE noun.
Special collocations: lost cause: see CAUSE noun. lost generation the generation reaching maturity c 1915-25, a high proportion of whose men were killed in the war of 1914-18; any culturally or emotionally unstable generation. lost labour: see LABOUR noun. lost motion imperfect transmission of motion between two parts of a machine which communicate one with the other, owing to faulty construction or looseness of the parts. lost property lost articles found but not claimed; lost property department, lost property office, an office, department, dealing with (the disposal of) lost property. lost river US a river which disappears into the ground and re-emerges elsewhere. lost rock, lost stone US an erratic boulder. Lost Tribes: see TRIBE noun. lost wax = CIRE PERDUE. lost weekend a weekend spent in dissolute living.
b. absol. as noun.
An advertisement of a lost article. rare. M18.
The lost persons or things as a class. M19.
LEGION of the lost.
lostly adverb (rare) M17.
lostness noun E18.