Untitled Document

loss noun (losses)
1 the act or fact of losing or being lost • paid for his stupidity with the loss of his driving licence.
2 the thing, amount, etc lost • His loss of hearing was severe.
3 the disadvantage that results when someone or something goes • a great loss to the company.
4 a the death of a close friend or relative • He couldn't come to terms with the loss of his mother; b the sadness felt after such a death • He did his best to console her in her loss. at a loss
1 puzzled; uncertain; unable to understand • Her tantrums left me at a complete loss.
2 said of a selling price, etc: lower than the buying price • had to sell the car at a loss.
3 said of a company, etc: losing more money than it is making • trading at a loss. at a loss for words speechless through shock, amazement, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon.

loss

–noun

1.	detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery.

2.	something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

3.	an amount or number lost: The loss of life increased each day.

4.	the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had: the loss of old friends.

5.	death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

6.	the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.: to discover the loss of a document.

7.	a losing by defeat; failure to win: the loss of a bet.

8.	failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

9.	failure to preserve or maintain: loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

10.	destruction or ruin: the loss of a ship by fire.

11.	a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent: Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.

12.

Military.

a.	the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.

b.	Often, losses. the number of soldiers so lost.

13.	Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.

14.	Electricity. a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.

—Idiom

15.

at a loss,

a.	at less than cost; at a financial loss.

b.	in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed: We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE los destruction; c. ON los looseness, breaking up. See lose, loose