loosen

Etymology

From loose + -en.

verb

1. (transitive) To make loose.
   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 […]
   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. 1944 May and June, “The Why and the Wherefore: Locomotive Soot Blowers”, in Railway Magazine, page 194
   … 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. 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The railways and the Devon floods”, in Trains Illustrated, page 709
   His days at the villa had loosened his body and freed his tenseness […] 1992, Michael Ondaatje, chapter 10, in The English Patient, London: Picador, published 1993, page 265
2. (intransitive) To become loose.
   I noticed that my seatbelt had gradually loosened during the journey.
   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. 1630, Michael Drayton, “Noahs Floud”, in The Muses Elizium Lately Discouered, London: John Waterson, page 108
   The sea scurvy is attended with an universal putrefaction, the teeth loosen, old wounds that had been healed again open […] 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
   Max caught Bigger’s shoulders in a tight grip; then his fingers loosened and he sank back to the cot […] 1940, Richard Wright, Native Son, London: Jonathan Cape, published 1970, Book 3, p. 387
3. (transitive) To disengage (a device that restrains).
   At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands, And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands. 1717, Joseph Addison, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99
   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. 1796, Matthew Gregory Lewis, chapter 10, in The Monk, volume 3, London: J. Bell, page 167
   Her hair is drawn back under a heavy enamelled clasp. He loosens the clasp and lays it on the table. 1994, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 6, in The Master of Petersburg, New York: Viking, page 55
4. (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
   Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […] 1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, volume 5, Dublin, page 52
5. (transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
   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. 1695, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica, London: W. Rogers, page 185
   […] 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. 1794, Ann Ward Radcliffe, chapter 5, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, volume 1, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 145
   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 […] 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Book 1, Chapter 8
   The recollection loosened a throng of benumbed sensations—longings, regrets, imaginings, the throbbing brood of the only spring her heart had ever known. 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Book 2, Chapter 11
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;
   […] 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. 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: E. Dod, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 73
   When this Fruit [the guava] is eaten green it is binding, when ripe it is loosening. 1697, William Dampier, chapter 8, in A New Voyage Round the World, volume 1, London: James Knapton, page 222
   Trying to control his breathing and the loosening of his bowels, he crouched still lower […] 1974, Richard Adams, chapter 36, in Shardik, London: Oneworld, published 2014
7. (transitive, obsolete) To create a breach or rift between (two parties).
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To sail away (from the shore).
   […] 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. 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