| 释义 |
loosen, v.|ˈluːs(ə)n|
Forms: 4 losne, lousen, loosne, 6 loozen, 7 losen, 9 dial. lowsen, 4, 7– loosen.
[f. loose a. + -en5. ON. had losna intr., to become loose, from the wk. grade of the root.]
To make loose or looser.
1. a. trans. To set free or release from bonds or physical restraint. Obs. exc. poet. (rare) and dial.
1382Wyclif Ps. cxlv. 7 The Lord losneth the gyuede. Ibid. ci. 21 That he shulde..loosen the sones of the slayne. 1530Palsgr. 766/2, I unbynde, I losen, je deslie. 1804Couper Poetry I. 88 The oussen, lousen'd frae the plough, Spread oure the grassy plain. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 153 Lifting his hands now loosened from chains.
b. transf. and fig. Now only in the phrase to loosen (a person's) tongue, and in certain poetical or rhetorical uses (? after Shelley).
1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 192 And therfore doth in this Law, what best agrees with his goodnes, loosning a sacred thing to peace and charity, rather then binding it to hatred and contention. Ibid. 222 And this their limiting that which God loosen'd and their loosning the sinnes that he limited. 1695Dryden Dufresnoy's Art Painting 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. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. iii. 81 Thou breathe into the many-folded shell, Loosening its mighty music. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xlviii. 14 But [Sorrow] rather loosens from the lip Short swallow-flights of song. 1869Trollope He knew xliv. (1878) 246 By degrees her tongue was loosened. 1893E. H. Barker Wand. S. Waters 222 The fragrance of the valley was loosened. 1895Zangwill Master i. x. 110 The action seemed to loosen his tongue.
2. To undo, unfasten (bonds, a knot, or the like). Now usually: To render looser or less tight, to relax, slacken.
1382Wyclif Isa. xx. 2 Go, and loosne the sac fro thi leendis. 1611Bible Judith ix. 2 Who loosened the girdle of a maide to defile her. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 384 The Grooms..walk the Horses, then they cloath them and loosen their Girts. 1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. III. 54 The manacles were loosened from my hands. 1820Keats St. Agnes xxvi, She..Loosens her fragrant boddice. 1884Law Times 3 May 1/2 A Government not accustomed to loosen their purse strings. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 258 On loosening the ligatures the rabbit often gave a sudden jump forward. 1902A. E. W. Mason Four Feathers xv. 141 That access of panic which had loosened his joints when first he saw the low brown walls of the town.
fig.1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxiv. 367 Neptune's bonds of stone from Dardan city to loosen.
3. a. To weaken the adhesion or attachment of; to unfix, detach.
1667Milton P.L. vi. 643 From thir foundations loosning to and fro They pluckt the seated Hills. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. 232 The manner of loosning all the other inward Spheres is as the Former. Ibid., Loosen it out of the Wax. 1726Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 72/2 The water..routs up the bottom, and..carries away every thing that it can loosen. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 326 A wall which time and weather had so loosened that it shook in every storm. 1879N. Smyth Old Faiths in New Light ii. (1882) 45 The ivy creeping up the wall of the church does not loosen its ancient stones. 1882Ouida Maremma I. 28 Loosen the image from my hat.
†b. fig. To detach in affection, make a breach between. Obs.
1605Shakes. Lear v. i. 19 (1st Qo. 1608), I had rather loose the battaile, then that sister should loosen him and mee.
c. slang. to loosen (a person's) hide: to flog.
1902Daily Chron. 11 Apr. 9/2 He thought the only way to make them decent members of society was ‘to loosen their hides’.
d. intr. for refl. or pass. To become loose.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. 46 The square on the Spindle will be apt to loosen in the square of the Wheel. 1680Ibid. 178 These Puppets stand the firmer, and are less subject to loosen. Ibid. 231 The Cube or Dy will loosen. 1726Swift Gulliver iv. ix, They have a kind of Tree, which at Forty Years old loosens in the Root. 1899J. Hutchinson Archives Surg. X. 157 A whitlow formed, and the nail loosened and was shed in fragments. 1901W. M. Ramsay in Contemp. Rev. Mar. 390 His old ideas had been slowly loosening and dissolving.
4. trans. To make less coherent; to separate the particles of.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 488 With Iron Teeth of Rakes..to move The crusted Earth, and loosen it above. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 62 Manures plowed in, loosen and divide the soil. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 329 The workman then with his spade loosens..the texture of the..soil. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 202 He struck the snow with his baton to loosen it.
fig.a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) II. viii. 510 Society was loosened and seemed to be resolving itself into its elements.
5. a. To relax, relieve the costiveness of, cause a free evacuation of (the bowels).
1587Golding De Mornay viii. 95 Esculapius..was esteemed as a God for teaching..to loozen the Belly. 1626Bacon Sylva §41 Feare looseneth the Belly. 1676Wiseman Surg. v. i. 352 Also use..lenient Purgatives, to loosen the body. 1761W. Lewis Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 181 To loosen the belly; to promote perspiration, urine, and the uterine purgations. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 617 The bowels [must] be loosened with some gentle aperient.
b. To render (a cough) ‘looser’.
1833Cycl. Pract. Med. I. 316/1 To loosen the cough..small doses of ipecacuanha or tartarized antimony are often most effectual. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 39 To mature, that is to loosen the [bronchial] catarrh.
6. To relax in point of severity or strictness.
1798Malthus Popul. (1878) 10 The restraints to population are..loosened. 1858Buckle Civiliz. (1873) II. viii. 568 Even the Inquisition was..made to loosen its hold over its victims. 1872G. B. Cheever Lect. Pilgr. Progr. v. 152 The strictness of his imprisonment had been loosened. 1873Holland A. Bonnic. vii. 119 Mr. Bird seemed to take a special pleasure in our society, and while loosening his claim on us as pupils, to hold us as associates and friends more closely. 1899T. S. Baldock Cromwell 291 The men neither straggled nor loosened their discipline.
7. absol. with up.
a. To give money willingly, to talk freely, etc. U.S. colloq.
1908K. McGaffey Sorrows of Show-Girl xi. 125 Loosen-up... You've got to donate for a couple of tickets to the annual benefit. 1911G. S. Porter Harvester xx. 516 You're tight-mouthed... Loosen up! 1922C. Sandburg Slabs of Sunburnt West 6 Come across, kick in, loosen up. Where do you get that chatter? 1923R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean xi. 187 Somebody will have to loosen up to pay for the damage to my nervous system. 1927Ladies' Home Jrnl. 114 That is the first time he has ever loosened up. 1949Wodehouse Uncle Dynamite i. 8 You will generally find women loosen up less lavishly than men.
b. In Sport or Dancing, to exercise the muscles before concentrated physical effort, to limber up. Also loosening-up vbl. n. and ppl. adj.
1955M. Gilbert Sky High xii. 165 The General came to a stop in the middle of his loosening-up exercises. 1956R. Alston Test Commentary xvi. 139 Lindwall was given a couple of loosening-up overs. 1973M. Russell Double Hit viii. 55 Make it an hour. I'll be twenty minutes loosening up... I'm after the exercise. |