The usage of the word "loose" in "the bun of hair loose on her neck"

Question

She looked down at me, the bun of hair loose on her neck.

The above sentence is taken from Dreams Do Come True by Jim Bishop.

Is the word loose used correctly?

Why do you think it is not correct? It sounds fine to me. If you can edit your question to be more specific, that would help. — Catija, Aug 31, 2015 at 5:28
Please do not use pairs of angled single quotes for typographic quotes, as this is awkward to read and usually messes up formatting; just use ordinary double quotes (") or full-on Unicode (“”). — Nathan Tuggy, Aug 31, 2015 at 5:30

Maulik V · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-31 05:32:55Z

1

The writer is expressing that woman's gesture.

Bun is a hairstyle with hair put into a tight roll. But here, it's loose on her neck.

answered Aug 31, 2015 at 5:32

Maulik V

65.8k108 gold badges308 silver badges452 bronze badges

+1. Here, "loose" means that it was not tightly rolled. The hair may have been loosely rolled up to begin with, or it may have worked itself loose.
– TimR
Aug 31, 2015 at 12:17

Add a comment |

Mowzer · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-31 05:33:15Z

0

I think loose it's used correctly.

I think what you might be expecting are more modern or more typical patterns people might use. Like any of the following:

Which are both also correct.

answered Aug 31, 2015 at 5:33

Mowzer

8824 silver badges11 bronze badges

Add a comment |

2 Answers 2