# loosen
## English
### Etymology

From loose +‎ -en.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /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).
    Synonyms: undo, unfasten
** 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.
    Synonyms: liberate, release, set free
** 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 […]
* (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

* tighten

#### Derived terms

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

#### Related terms

* loose
* unloosen

#### Translations

Albanian: liroj (sq)
Arabic: أَرْخَى (ʔarḵā), حَلَّ (ar) (ḥalla), فَكَّكَ (fakkaka)
Aromanian: distringu, disfac
Bulgarian: разхлабвам (bg) (razhlabvam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鬆開 / 松开 (zh) (sōngkāi)
Czech: uvolnit (cs) pf
Danish: løsne (da)
Dutch: losmaken (nl)
Egyptian: (sfḫḫ)
Esperanto: malfiksi
Finnish: löysätä (fi), höllätä (fi), löyhentää
French: desserrer (fr)
Gallurese: allintà, allinà
German: lösen (de), lockern (de)
Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lausjan)
Greek: χαλαρώνω (el) (chalaróno)
Ancient: λύω (lúō)
Ido: laxigar (io)
Irish: scaoil
Italian: allentare (it)
Japanese: ゆるめる (ja) (yurumeru), ほどく (ja) (hodoku)
Ladino: afloshar
Latin: labefacio, solvō (la)
Maori: whakatangatanga, whakakorokoro, whakakaewa, whakahorohoro, whakangoru, tākōkō
Norwegian:
Bokmål: løsne (no), løse (no)
Nynorsk: løyse
Portuguese: afrouxar (pt)
Romanian: desface (ro)
Russian: ослабля́ть (ru) impf (oslabljátʹ), осла́бить (ru) pf (oslábitʹ)
Sardinian:
Campidanese: ammollai
Logudorese: allenare
Spanish: aflojar (es), soltar (es)
Swedish: gå upp (sv)
Turkish: gevşemek (tr), gevşetmek (tr) :

### See also

* lose

### Anagrams

* Oleson, no-lose, soleno-