unstiffen

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

un- +‎ stiffen

Verb[edit]

unstiffen (third-person singular simple present unstiffens, present participle unstiffening, simple past and past participle unstiffened)

  1. To remove the stiffness from; to relax; to make pliant.
    • 1917, Alice Cholmondeley, Christine[1]:
      We stopped here about ten o'clock this morning, and I was so tired and stiff after the long night wedged in tight in the railway carriage that I got out to get some air and unstiffen myself, instinctively clutching my fiddle-case; and a Bavarian officer on the platform, watching the train with some soldiers, saw me and came over to me at once and demanded to see my papers.