on the loose

adjective

having escaped, especially from confinement

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a convict still at large

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searching for two escaped prisoners

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dogs loose on the streets

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criminals on the loose in the neighborhood

• Syn: ↑at large, ↑escaped, ↑loose

• Similar to: ↑free

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FREE, at liberty, at large, escaped; on the run, fugitive; N. Amer. informal on the lam.

→ loose

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adverb (or adjective)

1. : in a state of freedom : without limits or restrictions as to movement

the more warlike tribes were still on the loose — Oliver La Farge

a dangerous animal … left on the loose — F.B.Gipson

2. : without moral restraint (as on behavior); especially : in a state characterized by unrestrained and usually dissolute behavior

the rowdy element, … drunken poachers and sailors on the loose — Saturday Review

she began shop-lifting and going on the loose again — Samuel Butler †1902

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on the loose

1. Indulging in a bout of unrestraint

2. Freed from confinement

• • •

Main Entry: ↑loose

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on the loose phrase

if a dangerous person or animal is on the loose, they have escaped from where they were being kept

Thesaurus: free and independent_synonym

Main entry: loose

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having escaped from confinement

a serial killer is on the loose

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on the loose

: able to move freely : not controlled or held in a prison, cage, etc.

— used especially to describe a dangerous person, animal, or group

The prisoner escaped and is still on the loose.

A killer is on the loose.

An angry mob was on the loose.

• • •

Main Entry: ↑loose

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on the ˈloose idiom

(of a person or an animal) having escaped from somewhere; free

Syn: ↑at large

•

Three prisoners are still on the loose.

Main entry: ↑loose_idiom