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 […]
- 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^[2], 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^[3], 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^[4], 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^[5], 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).
Synonyms: undo, unfasten
- 1717, Joseph Addison, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands‎^[6], 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^[7], 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^[8], 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^[9], volume 5, Dublin, page 52:
  Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]
(transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
Synonyms: liberate, release, set free
- 1695, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica‎^[10], 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^[11], 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^[12], 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^[13], 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,^[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^[15], 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^[16], 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^[17], London: Oneworld, published 2014:
  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, [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^[18], 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.