8. (Insurance) Destruction or diminution of value, if brought about in
a manner provided for in the insurance contract (as destruction by fire
or wreck, damage by water or smoke), or the death or injury of an
insured person; also, the sum paid or payable therefor; as, the losses
of the company this year amount to a million of dollars.
To bear a loss, to make a loss good; also, to sustain a loss without
sinking under it. -- To be at a loss, to be in a state of uncertainty.
Syn. -- Privation; detriment; injury; damage.
Loss"ful (?), a. Detrimental. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
Loss"less, a. Free from loss. [Obs.] Milton.
Lost (?), a. [Prop. p. p. of OE. losien. See Lose, v. t.] 1. Parted
with unwillingly or unintentionally; not to be found; missing; as, a
lost book or sheep.
2. Parted with; no longer held or possessed; as, a lost limb; lost
honor.
3. Not employed or enjoyed; thrown away; employed ineffectually;
wasted; squandered; as, a lost day; a lost opportunity or benefit.
5. Having wandered from, or unable to find, the way; bewildered;
perplexed; as, a child lost in the woods; a stranger lost in London.
6. Ruined or destroyed, either physically or morally; past help or
hope; as, a ship lost at sea; a woman lost to virtue; a lost soul.
7. Hardened beyond sensibility or recovery; alienated; insensible; as,
lost to shame; lost to all sense of honor.
8. Not perceptible to the senses; no longer visible; as, an island lost
in a fog; a person lost in a crowd.
9. Occupied with, or under the influence of, something, so as to be
insensible of external things; as, to be lost in thought.
Lost motion (Mach.), the difference between the motion of a driver and
that of a follower, due to the yielding of parts or looseness of
joints.
Lot (lt), n. [AS. hlot; akin to hleótan to cast lots, OS. hlt lot, D.
lot, G. loos, OHG. lz, Icel. hlutr, Sw. lott, Dan. lod, Goth. hlauts.
Cf. Allot, Lotto, Lottery.]
1. That which happens without human design or forethought; chance;
accident; hazard; fortune; fate.
But save my life, which lot before your foot doth lay.
Spenser.
2. Anything (as a die, pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in
determining a question by chance, or without man's choice or will; as,
to cast or draw lots.
The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord.
Prov. xvi. 33.
If we draw lots, he speeds.
Shak.
3. The part, or fate, which falls to one, as it were, by chance, or
without his planning.
O visions ill foreseen! Each day's lot's Enough to bear.
Milton.
He was but born to try The lot of man -- to suffer and to die.
Pope.
4. A separate portion; a number of things taken collectively; as, a lot
of stationery; -- colloquially, sometimes of people; as, a sorry lot; a
bad lot.
I, this winter, met with a very large lot of English heads, chiefly
of the reign of James I.
Walpole.
5. A distinct portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field;
as, a building lot in a city.
The defendants leased a house and lot in the city of New York.
Kent.
6. A large quantity or number; a great deal; as, to spend a lot of
money; lots of people think so. [Colloq.]
He wrote to her . . . he might be detained in London by a lot of
business.
W. Black.