1771. Foote, Maid of Bath, iii. 2. I got acquainted with Maister Foote, the play-actor: I will get him to bring the filthy loon on the stage.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1798. Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, i. Hold-off; unhand me, gray-haired loon.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxx. It might be worth your lordship's while to have the loon sent to a barber-surgeon's to learn some needful scantling of anatomy.
To play the loon, verb. phr. (Scots').—To play the whore.
1568. Sempill, Ballats (ed. 1878), p. 232. 'Being in ward for playing of the loun With every ane list geif hir half a croun.' [Title].
c.1776. Herd, Ancient & Mod. Scottish Songs, ii. 7. I am o'er low to be your bride, Your lown I'll never be, Sir.
17[?]. Old Scots Ballad [quoted by Burns], 'My Wife's a Wanton Wee Thing.' She play'd the loon or she was married.
c.1802-5. Minstrelsy Border, ii. 75. I trow some may has plaid the lown, And fled her ain countree.
Loonslate (or Loonslatt), subs.
(old).—Thirteen pence halfpenny.
Cf. Hangman's Wages.—B.
E. (1690); New Cant. Dict.
(1725); Grose (1785).
Loony (or Luny), adj. (colloquial).—Crazy.
[Short for 'lunatic']. Also
as subs. = a fool; a natural. For
synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1883. E. C. Mann, Psychol. Med., 424. He had frequent luny spells, as he called them.
Loose, adj. (old).—1. Wanton;
blue (q.v.). Hence, loose-legged,
adj. = light-heeled (q.v);
loose in the hilts (or haft) =
incontinent; loose-girdled (or
gowned) = approachable; loose-woman
= a harlot; loose-liver
= a whoremaster, etc.
1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, ii. 7, 41. I would prevent The loose encounters of lascivious men.
1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, v. I had a reputation, but 'twas lost in my loose course.
1636. Davenant, The Wits, iii. 3. This mansion is not her's, but a concealed retirement . . . To hide her loose love.
1711. Addison, Spectator, No. 262. I have shown in a former Paper with how much Care I have avoided all such Thoughts as are loose, obscene, or immoral.
1756. The World, No. 182. Apollo obeyed, and became a wit. He composed loose sonnets and plays.
1783-85. Cowper, Task, iii. 692. No loose, or wanton, though a wandering Muse.
2. (common).—Dissipated.
1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. iv. They were all feverish, boastful, and indefinably loose; and they all ate and drank a great deal; and made bets in eating and drinking.
On the loose, adv. phr. (common).—1. On the town.
2. On the drink; on the spree (q.v.).
1848. Ruxton, Life In The Far West, 85. They quickly disposed of their peltries, and were once more on the loose.
1848. Jas. Hannay, King Dobbs, iv. p. 63 (1856). One evening, when they were at Gibraltar, on the look-out for amusement—in modern parlance, on the loose.
1859. Punch, vol. xxxvii. p. 22. Our friend prone to vices you never may see, Though he goes on the loose, or the cut, or the spree.
1871. All the Year Round, Sept. He lives by anything rather than by steady work, though sometimes, when a virtuous fit is on him, and he is not out on the rampage, the loose, or the
