loosen

From loose +‎ -en.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈluːsn̩/

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loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)

1. (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 […]

   • 1992, Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, London: Picador, 1993, Chapter 10, p. 265,

     His days at the villa had loosened his body and freed his tenseness […]

2. (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,

     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, 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 […]

3. (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,

     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,

     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,

     Her hair is drawn back under a heavy enamelled clasp. He loosens the clasp and lays it on the table.

4. (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
   • 1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, Dublin: for the author, Volume 5, p. 52,

     Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]

5. (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,

     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,

     […] 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.

6. (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, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, Volume 1, Chapter 8, p. 222,

     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,

     Trying to control his breathing and the loosening of his bowels, he crouched still lower […]

7. (transitive, obsolete) To create a breach or rift between (two parties).
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 1,

     I had rather lose the battle than that sister

     Should loosen him and me.

8. (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,

     […] 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.

• tighten

• loosener
• loosen someone's tongue
• loosen the apron strings
• loosen the purse strings
• loosen up
• reloosen

• loose
• unloosen

• lose

• no-lose