loosen

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From loose +‎ -en.

Pronunciation[edit]

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈluːsn̩/
Audio (US) (file)

Verb[edit]

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,^[1]
  […] after a yeares Rooting, then Shaking doth the Tree good, by Loosening of the Earth […]
- 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, The English Patient, London: Picador, 1993, Chapter 10, p. 265,^[2]
  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, p. 108,^[3]
  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,^[4]
  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, 1970, Book 3, p. 387,^[5]
  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).
Synonyms: undo, unfasten
- 1717, Joseph Addison (translator), Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99,^[6]
  At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,
  
  And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands.
- 1796, Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Monk, London: J. Bell, Volume 3, Chapter 10, p. 167,^[7]
  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, The Master of Petersburg, New York: Viking, Chapter 6, p. 55,^[8]
  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, Dublin: for the author, Volume 5, p. 52,^[9]
  Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]
(transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
Synonyms: liberate, release, set free
- 1695, John Dryden (translator), De Arte Graphica by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, London: W. Rogers, p. 185,^[10]
  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, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Volume 1, Chapter 5, p. 145,^[11]
  […] 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,^[12]
  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,^[13]
  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,^[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,^[15]
  […] 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, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, Volume 1, Chapter 8, p. 222,^[16]
  When this Fruit [the guava] is eaten green it is binding, when ripe it is loosening.
- 1974, Richard Adams, Shardik, London: Oneworld, 2014, Chapter 36,^[17]
  Trying to control his breathing and the loosening of his bowels, he crouched still lower […]
(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 606515358, [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 (translator), 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,^[18]
  […] 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.