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LOOSENED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Straightened out
Synonyms:
disentangled; loosened; unsnarled
Classified under:
Similar:
untangled (not tangled)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb loosen
Context examples:
At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
At first there is a sort of negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of warning silence.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
But the sparrow crept under the tilt of the cart, and pecked at the bung of one of the casks till she loosened it; and then all the wine ran out, without the carter seeing it.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Matt loosened the bandana from his own neck and started to put it around White Fang's.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
He loosened his long-bow, slung his quiver round to the front, and then glanced keenly round for a fitting mark.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Though there was a stream of traffic upon the road, the coaches from Brighton were too fresh to stop, and those from London too eager to reach their journey’s end, so that if it had not been for an occasional broken trace or loosened wheel, the landlord would have had only the thirsty throats of the village to trust to.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Even as the three wayfarers stared, however, there was a sudden change, for the smaller man, having finished his song, loosened his own gown and handed the scourge to the other, who took up the stave once more and lashed his companion with all the strength of his bare and sinewy arm.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I remember Adele clung to me as I left her: I remember I kissed her as I loosened her little hands from my neck; and I cried over her with strange emotion, and quitted her because I feared my sobs would break her still sound repose.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
