footloose

foot +‎ loose

footloose (comparative more footloose, superlative most footloose)

1. Tending to travel or do as one pleases; readily without many commitments or responsibility.

   He was footloose in his youth.

   • 2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 465:

     Because we often imagine that immigrants are constantly on the move, footloose, able to change course at any moment.

   • 2021 February 18, A. O. Scott, “‘Nomadland’ Review: The Unsettled Americans”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     […] They are footloose but also desperate, squeezed by rising inequality and a frayed safety net.

2. (nautical) Of a sail: not properly secured at the bottom.

• footloose and fancy free

• itchy feet
• wanderlust