"loose"
Wordplay
Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 160-167a
Polonius
Gertrude
Polonius
The wordplay here means that “loose” can be read in two ways:
- Leave unchaperoned
- Farm terminology: to put a male animal in with a female in heat.
This unintentionally crude pun is reinforced when Polonius makes another farming reference a few lines later.