Loosening

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Loosen \Loos"en\ (l[=oo]s"'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Loosened}
     (l[=oo]s"'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Loosening}.] [See {Loose}, v.
     t.]
     1. To make loose; to free from tightness, tension, firmness,
        or fixedness; to make less dense or compact; as, to loosen
        a string, or a knot; to loosen a rock in the earth.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              After a year's rooting, then shaking doth the tree
              good by loosening of the earth.       --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To free from restraint; to set at liberty..
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It loosens his hands, and assists his understanding.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To remove costiveness from; to facilitate or increase the
        alvine discharges of. --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  loosening
       n 1: an occurrence of control or strength weakening; "the
            relaxation of requirements"; "the loosening of his
            grip"; "the slackening of the wind" [syn: {relaxation},
            {slackening}]
       2: the act of making something less tight [syn: {laxation}]
          [ant: {tightening}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  62 Moby Thesaurus words for "loosening":
     abatement, allayment, alleviation, assuagement, blunting, calming,
     carelessness, damping, deadening, demulcent, demulsion, diminution,
     dulcification, dulling, easiness, easing, easygoingness, emollient,
     falling-off, hushing, impotence, imprecision, indifference, laxity,
     laxness, leniency, lessening, letdown, letup, lightening,
     looseness, lulling, mitigation, modulation, mollification,
     mollifying, negligence, overindulgence, overpermissiveness,
     pacification, palliation, permissiveness, quietening, quieting,
     reduction, relaxation, relaxedness, relaxing, remission,
     remissness, slackening, slackness, sloppiness, softening, softness,
     soothing, subduement, subduing, tempering, tranquilization,
     unrestraint, weakness