loss \loss\ lo^s; 115, n. as. los loss, losing, fr.
   le'isan to lose. root127. see lose, v. t.
   1. the act of losing; failure; destruction; privation; as,
      the loss of property; loss of money by gaming; loss of
      health or reputation.
      1913 webster

            assured loss before the match be played. --shak.
      1913 webster

   2. the state of losing or having lost; the privation, defect,
      misfortune, harm, etc., which ensues from losing.
      1913 webster

            though thou repent, yet i have still the loss.
                                                  --shak
      1913 webster

   3. that which is lost or from which one has parted; waste; --
      opposed to gain or increase; as, the loss of liquor by
      leakage was considerable.
      1913 webster

   4. the state of being lost or destroyed; especially, the
      wreck or foundering of a ship or other vessel.
      1913 webster

   5. failure to gain or win; as, loss of a race or battle.
      1913 webster

   6. failure to use advantageously; as, loss of time.
      1913 webster

   7. mil. killed, wounded, and captured persons, or captured
      property.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

   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.
        1913 webster
see also:
lose gain increase to bear a loss to be at a loss 

loss
     n 1: the act of losing; "everyone expected him to win so his loss
          was a shock"
     2: something that is lost; "the car was a total loss"; "loss of
        livestock left the rancher bankrupt"
     3: the amount by which the cost of a business exceeds its
        revenue; "the company operated at a loss last year"; "the
        company operated in the red last year" syn: red ink, red
        ant: gain
     4: gradual decline in amount or activity; "weight loss"; "a
        serious loss of business"
     5: the disadvantage that results from losing something; "his
        loss of credibility led to his resignation"; "losing him
        is no great deprivation" syn: deprivation
     6: military personnel lost by death or capture syn: personnel
        casualty
     7: the experience of losing a loved one; "he sympathized on the
        loss of their grandfather"
     8: euphemistic expressions for death; "thousands mourned his
        passing" syn: passing, departure, exit, expiration,
         going, release
see also:
red ink red gain deprivation personnel casualty passing 
departure exit expiration going release 

94 moby thesaurus words for "loss":
   ablation, annihilation, attrition, bankruptcy, bereavement,
   breakage, breakdown, collapse, confusion, consumption, corrosion,
   crack-up, crippling, damage, death, decrement, defeat,
   deliquescence, demise, denial, depletion, deprivation, deprivement,
   destruction, detriment, devastation, dilapidation, diminution,
   disablement, disadvantage, disappearance, disappointment,
   dispossession, disrepair, dissipation, dissolution, divestment,
   downfall, drawback, drubbing, dying, encroachment, erosion,
   exhaustion, extermination, extinction, failure, forfeit,
   forfeiture, handicap, harm, havoc, hobbling, hurt, hurting,
   impairment, impoverishment, incapacitation, infringement, injury,
   inroad, liability, losing, losings, loss of ground, losses,
   maiming, mayhem, mischief, mislaying, misplacement, misplacing,
   mutilation, passing, prejudice, privation, reduction, ruin,
   ruination, ruinousness, sabotage, sacrifice, scathe, shrinkage,
   sickening, spoiling, squandering, step backward, trouncing,
   wastage, waste, wasting, weakening, wear and tear

loss n. something not a person that loses; a situation in which
   something is losing. emphatic forms include `moby loss', and `total
   loss', `complete loss'. common interjections are "what a loss" and
   "what a moby loss" note that `moby loss' is ok even though `moby
   loser' is not used; applied to an abstract noun, moby is simply a
   magnifier, whereas when applied to a person it implies substance and has
   positive connotations. compare lossage.


see also:
lossage 

loss
     
         something not a person that loses; a situation in
        which something is losing.  emphatic forms include "moby
        loss", and "total loss", "complete loss".  common
        interjections are "what a loss"  and "what a moby loss"
        note that "moby loss" is ok even though "moby loser" is not
        used; applied to an abstract noun, moby is simply a magnifier,
        whereas when applied to a person it implies substance and has
        positive connotations.
     
        compare lossage.
     
        1995-04-19
     
     
see also:
lossage 

loss, contracts. the deprivation of something which one had, which was 
either advantageous, agreeable or commodious. 
     2. in cases of partnership, the losses are in general borne by the 
partners equally, unless stipulations or circumstance's manifest a different 
intention. story, partn. sec. 24. but it is not essential that the partners 
should all share the losses. they may agree, that if there shall be no 
profits, but a loss, that the loss shall be borne by one or more of the 
partners exclusively, and that the others shall, inter se, be exempted from 
all liabilities for losses. colly. partn. 11; gow, partn. 9; 3 m.  wels. 
357; 5 barn.  ald. 954 story, partn. sec. 23. 
     3. when a thing sold is lost by an accident, as by fire, the loss falls 
on the owner, res perit domino, and questions not unfrequently arise, as to 
whether the thing has been delivered and passed to the purchaser, or whether 
it remains still the property of the seller. see, on this subject, delivery. 

loss, n.  privation of that which we had, or had not.  thus, in the
latter sense, it is said of a defeated candidate that he "lost his
election"; and of that eminent man, the poet gilder, that he has "lost
his mind."  it is in the former and more legitimate sense, that the
word is used in the famous epitaph:

    here huntington's ashes long have lain
    whose loss is our eternal gain,
    for while he exercised all his powers
    whatever he gained, the loss was ours.