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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lost motion

Lost \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.

Usage examples of "lost motion".

Without a second of lost motion, he quickly removed his dive knife from its leg sheath and pried out the pins in the hinges.

Jarvis performed the task smoothly, with no lost motion, as Qazi and Ali watched.

The wastage, and lost motion, and plain dumb luck by which things get done on the Caine are simply staggering.

Never did there seem to be any lost motion, never was one at a loss as to what to do, never did one worker get in the way of another.