loosen
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈluːsn̩/
Audio (US) (file)
Verb
loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)
- (transitive) To make loose.
- Synonyms: ease, relax, untighten
- to loosen a knot; to loosen one's grip / hold on something
- After the Thanksgiving meal, Bill loosened his belt.
- 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 5, p. 111,
- […] after a yeares Rooting, then Shaking doth the Tree good, by Loosening of the Earth […]
- 1944 May and June, “The Why and the Wherefore: Locomotive Soot Blowers”, in Railway Magazine, page 194:
- In order to deal with deposits of soot on boiler-tubes while running, especially if poor coal is in use, locomotives are often now provided with blowers on the firebox back-plate which can be made to discharge a jet of high pressure steam towards the firebox tubeplates; this has the effect of loosening and blowing off the soot deposits.
- 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The railways and the Devon floods”, in Trains Illustrated, page 709:
- [...] and on the Saturday heavy seas pounded the W.R. on its exposed coastal stretch between Dawlish and Teignmouth, loosening the ballast and forcing trains to proceed with extreme caution.
- 1992, Michael Ondaatje, chapter 10, in The English Patient, London: Picador, published 1993, page 265:
- His days at the villa had loosened his body and freed his tenseness […]
- (intransitive) To become loose.
- I noticed that my seatbelt had gradually loosened during the journey.
- 1630, Michael Drayton, “Noahs Floud”, in The Muses Elizium Lately Discouered, London: John Waterson, page 108:
- The subtile shower the earth hath softned so,
And with the waues, the trees tost to and fro;
That the rootes loosen, and the tops downe sway,
So that whole Forrests quickly swimme away.
- 1764, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, London: J. Newbery, Volume 2, Letter 19, p. 159:
- The sea scurvy is attended with an universal putrefaction, the teeth loosen, old wounds that had been healed again open […]
- 1940, Richard Wright, Native Son, London: Jonathan Cape, published 1970, Book 3, p. 387:
- Max caught Bigger’s shoulders in a tight grip; then his fingers loosened and he sank back to the cot […]
- (transitive) To disengage (a device that restrains).
- 1717, Joseph Addison, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99:
- At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,
And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands.
- 1796, Matthew Gregory Lewis, chapter 10, in The Monk, volume 3, London: J. Bell, page 167:
- He easily comprehended, that the noise which he had heard was occasioned by his having loosened a chain which attached the image to its pedestal.
- 1994, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 6, in The Master of Petersburg, New York: Viking, page 55:
- Her hair is drawn back under a heavy enamelled clasp. He loosens the clasp and lays it on the table.
- (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
- 1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, volume 5, Dublin, page 52:
- Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]
- (transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
- 1695, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica, London: W. Rogers, page 185:
- This is an admirable Rule; a Painter ought to have it perpetually present in his Mind and Memory. […] it loosens his hands, and assists his understanding.
- 1794, Ann Ward Radcliffe, chapter 5, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, volume 1, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 145:
- […] Valancourt, willing to take a more extensive view of the enchanting country, into which they were about to descend, than he could do from a carriage, loosened his dogs, and once more bounded with them along the banks of the road.
- 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Book 1, Chapter 8:
- I thought you had more sense than […] to suppose that because you have fallen into a very common trouble, such as most men have to go through, you are loosened from all bonds of duty […]
- 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Book 2, Chapter 11:
- The recollection loosened a throng of benumbed sensations—longings, regrets, imaginings, the throbbing brood of the only spring her heart had ever known.
- (transitive) To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.
- 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 1, p. 14,
- […] Feare looseneth the Belly; because the Heat retiring inwards towards the Heart, the Gutts and other Parts are relaxed;
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: E. Dod, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 73:
- […] omitting the vehicle of water and honey, which is of a laxative power it selfe, the powder of some Loadstones in this dose doth rather constipate and binde, then purge and loosen the belly.
- 1697, William Dampier, chapter 8, in A New Voyage Round the World, volume 1, London: James Knapton, page 222:
- When this Fruit [the guava] is eaten green it is binding, when ripe it is loosening.
- 1974, Richard Adams, chapter 36, in Shardik, London: Oneworld, published 2014:
- Trying to control his breathing and the loosening of his bowels, he crouched still lower […]
- 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 1, p. 14,
- (transitive, obsolete) To create a breach or rift between (two parties).
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- I had rather lose the battle than that sister
Should loosen him and me.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To sail away (from the shore).
- Synonym: put out
- 1565, Arthur Golding, transl., The Eyght Bookes of Caius Iulius Cæsar conteyning his martiall exploytes in the realme of Gallia and the countries bording vppon the same, London: William Seres, Book 4:
- […] after the .iiii. day of oure arryuall in Britayne, the eightene shyps that we spake of before, which hadde the horsemen to conuey ouer, loosened from the further hauen with a soft wynd.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to make less tight
|
to free from restraint; to set at liberty
See also
Anagrams
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