lose

To lose something is to have it and then not have it, with no idea where it went. Your keys, your phone, one glove out of a pair, the receipt you needed today.

Lose runs much wider than misplacing. You lose a match, an election, a court case; you lose weight, your job, your temper, your voice, your nerve; you lose someone you love, which is the gentle way English says that a person died. The past tense is lost, and the -ing form drops the e: losing. Then there is the spelling trap that catches everyone — lose has one o and rhymes with news, while loose has two and rhymes with goose and means not tight, so if your trousers are loose you may lose them. The noun is loss, and a loser is both the person who loses a game and, as an insult, somebody whose whole life is going badly.

Phrases it lives in

• lose your temper — To become suddenly and openly angry.
• lose touch — To stop having contact with someone over time.
• lose face — To be made to look foolish in front of other people.
• lose track of time — To fail to notice how late it has become.