英和和英

発音

• (英国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈluːsn̩/

動詞

loosen (三人称単数 現在形 loosens, 現在分詞 loosening, 過去形および過去分詞形 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,^[1]

     […] 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^[2], London: Picador, published 1993, page 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^[3], 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^[4], 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^[5], 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 […]

3. (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^[6], 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^[7], 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^[8], 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.

4. (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
   • 1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality‎^[9], volume 5, Dublin, page 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, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica‎^[10], 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^[11], 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^[12], 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^[13], 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,^[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^[15], 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^[16], 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^[17], London: Oneworld, published 2014:

     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. 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.

8. (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^[18], 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.

反意語

• tighten

派生語

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

関連する語

• loose
• unloosen

参考

• lose

アナグラム

• no-lose