relieve
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈliːv/
rhymes: -iːv
Forms: form: relieves
form: relieving
form: relieved
form: relieved
form: releeve
Etymology: From Late Middle English releven, from Old French relever, specifically from the conjugated forms such as (jeo) relieve (“I lift up”), and its source, Latin relevo (“to lift up, lighten, relieve, alleviate”), combined form of re- (“back”) + levo (“to lift”). Doublet of relevate. Compare levant, levity, etc.
Senses: examples: text: I was greatly relieved by the jury's verdict.
text: Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.
synonyms: liss
glosses: To ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort.
glosses: To alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.).
glosses: To provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty).
glosses: To lift up; to raise again.
glosses: To raise (someone) out of danger or from (a specified difficulty etc.).
examples: text: This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.
topics: law
glosses: To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.
examples: text: In 1574, the duke of Alva laid siege to Leiden to gain control of Holland's most beautiful and prosperous city. To relieve the siege, William of Orange and his followers opened the city's protective dikes to flush out—literally—the surrounding Spanish forces.
ref: 1994, John H. Makin, Norman J. Ornstein, Debt and Taxes: How America Got into Its Budget Mess and What We Can Do about It, New York, NY: Times Books, →ISBN, page 52:
glosses: To bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the siege on.
examples: text: They had thought it obsolete, but, were relieved of this misapprehension by Yule’s friend Major Trotter.
ref: 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look at ‘Hobson-Jobson’”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 57:
glosses: To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.
glosses: To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.
examples: text: The henna should be deeply dyed to make / The skin relieved appear more fairly fair […]
ref: 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, III.76:
text: The night whose sable breast relieves the stark / White stars is no less lovely being dark
ref: 1927, Countee Cullen, From the Dark Tower:
glosses: To make (something) stand out; to make prominent, bring into relief.
examples: text: 1989, Snyder v. Harmon, 562 A.2d 307 (Pa. 1989) (Zappala, J., writing for the majority), Pennsylvania Supreme Court
As they traveled along L.R. 33060, one of the passengers mentioned he had to relieve himself, so Barrett stopped the car along the berm of the road, which, unbeknown to the travelers, was directly adjacent to a strip mine.
text: For example, the times and locales for defecation and urination have come under tighter regulation in the modern West to meet an increasing demand – explicitly articulated in workplace rules and regulations – that people relieve themselves not whenever or wherever they feel like it but at an appropriate time and place (Inglis & Holmes, 2000).
ref: 2017, Hannah Frith, “Ejaculatory Timing and Masculine Identities: The Politics of Ab/normalising Sexual Performance”, in Jonathon Louth, Martin Potter, editors, Edges of Identity: The Production of Neoliberal Subjectivities, Chester, England: University of Chester Press, →ISBN, page 161:
synonyms: word: boo-boo
word: cack
word: choke a darkie
word: crap
word: defecate
word: do one's ease
word: ease oneself
word: do a number two
word: do one's easement
word: drite
word: drop a bomb
word: drop a chalupa
word: drop a deuce
word: drop anchor
word: drop the kids off at the pool
word: dung
raw_tags: of animals
word: exrementize
word: feceate
word: have a shit
word: move one's bowels
word: pinch a loaf
word: pinch one off
word: poo
word: pooh
word: poop
word: sharn
word: shart
word: shiss
word: shit
word: shite
word: stool
word: take a dump
word: take a shit
word: take a crap
word: take the Browns to the Super Bowl
word: uncoil
word: void one's bowels
word: break the seal
word: hit the head
word: micturate
word: pass water
word: pee
word: piddle
word: piss
word: slash
word: take a leak
word: take a piss
word: take a whiz
word: urinate
word: void
word: wee
word: wee wee
word: widdle
word: whiz
glosses: To urinate or defecate.
examples: text: Nevertheless, to relieve oneself takes the edge off the desire and doesn't take advantage of others.
ref: 2014, Abbie Smith, Celibate Sex: Musings on Being Loved, Single, Twisted, and Holy:
synonyms: word: bash one out
word: bate
word: beat it
word: beat off
word: crank one out
word: fap
word: frig
word: jack off
word: jack it
word: jerk it
word: jerk off
word: jork it
word: knock one out
word: masturbate
word: mastuprate
word: play pocket pool
word: play with oneself
word: pleasure oneself
word: rub one out
word: self-abuse
word: self-pollute
word: service oneself
word: skeet
word: toss
word: toss off
word: touch oneself
word: wank
word: wank off
word: whack off
glosses: To ease one's own desire to orgasm, often through masturbation to orgasm.
Synonyms: allay
assuage
Derived terms: pain-relieving
relieve nature
relieving arch
relieving officer
relieving tackle
Related terms: relevance
relevancy
relevant
relief
relievedly
reliever