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Loosen   /lˈusən/   Listen
Loosen

verb
(past & past part. loosened; pres. part. loosening)
1.
Make loose or looser.  Synonym: loose.
2.
Make less severe or strict.  Synonym: relax.
3.
Become less severe or strict.  Synonym: relax.
4.
Disentangle and raise the fibers of.  Synonyms: tease, tease apart.
5.
Cause to become loose.  Synonyms: undo, untie.  "Untie the knot" , "Loosen the necktie"
6.
Make less dense.
7.
Become loose or looser or less tight.  Synonyms: loose, relax.  "The rope relaxed"



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"Loosen" Quotes from Famous Books



... money in th' wurruld. But th' day comes whin he sees people around him gettin' a good dale iv injyemint out iv gin'rosity an' somewan says: 'Why don't ye, too, be gin-rous? Come, ol' green goods, unbelt, loosen up, be gin-rous.' 'Gin'rous?' says he, 'what's that?' 'It's th' best spoort in th' wurruld. It's givin' things to people.' 'But I can't,' he says. 'I haven't annything to do it with,' he says. 'I don't know th' game. I haven't anny gin'rosity,' he says. 'But ye have,' says ...
— Observations by Mr. Dooley • Finley Peter Dunne

... were not unduly fortified, but for all that, the two which Mrs. Poundstone had assimilated contained just sufficient "kick" to loosen the lady's tongue without thickening it. Consequently, about the time the piece de resistance made its appearance, she threw caution to the winds and adverted to the ...
— The Valley of the Giants • Peter B. Kyne

... nucleus which her husband was supposed to have brought home from India, obtained no one knows how, the Countess had amassed one of the largest fortunes possessed by any dowager in the peerage. She had it, and she held it, with a grasp that nothing but death could loosen; nay, that all-foreseeing mind of hers might contrive to cheat grim death itself, and to scheme a way for protecting this wealth, even when she who had gathered and garnered it should be mouldering in her grave. The entailed estates belonged ...
— Phantom Fortune, A Novel • M. E. Braddon

... constitute our population. Partiality of any kind tends to destroy the elemental ties which bind us together, to disrupt our Union, and to make us a house divided against itself. James M. Beck's article in last Sunday's TIMES is of the kind which, serving no good purpose, helps to loosen, if not sever, our most vital domestic ties. While not for an instant doubting Mr. Beck's sincerity, we must take issue with his inadvertently ...
— The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915 - What Americans Say to Europe • Various

... raffia is much improved by washing; therefore, before using it loosen it and soak it in clean water so that all dust and dirt may be removed and the strips or strings straightened out; then hang it in the air ...
— Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools • Virginia McGaw

... moulds (1/2 pt. tin cups are good ones) and line with cooked rice. Fill with creamed chicken previously prepared. Set moulds in pan of hot water and keep hot until wanted. Run knife around inside of tin to loosen the contents and invert mould upon serving plate. The result will be apparently a mould of rice. Place a Maraschino cherry ...
— Games For All Occasions • Mary E. Blain

... strength was ebbing fast, and he no longer had the power to put killing force behind his teeth. Flatear snapped aimlessly, his mind half crazed by that fearsome pinching of the chain on his toes. He felt it loosen and slip off, and he leaped clear ...
— The Yellow Horde • Hal G. Evarts

... on, I had not the slightest doubt in the world. I caught my breath in a gasp. I saw Jud loosen his arm in his coat-sleeve. Ump was as sensitive as any cripple, and he was afraid of no man. To my astonishment he smiled and waved his hand. "I'm cheek to your jowl, Parson," he said; "set ...
— Dwellers in the Hills • Melville Davisson Post

... she could still be saved. The prince, returning covered with fame and crowned with laurels, might now win her love, and drive from her heart every other thought. But if he cannot win it—if his return is not sufficient to loosen the chains which bind her—then she was lost—then she could not resist the intoxicating ...
— Frederick The Great and His Family • L. Muhlbach

... bidding her not despair. "A sister's love," said she, "never forgets, never wearies, never despairs." They had friends too powerful to be withstood, even by Bigot, and the Intendant would be compelled to loosen his hold upon Le Gardeur. She would rely upon the inherent nobleness of the nature of Le Gardeur himself to wash itself pure of all stain, could they only withdraw him from the seductions of the Palace. "We will win him from them by counter charms, Amelie, and it will be seen that virtue is stronger ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... have to loosen a block of wall this size, push it out at the right moment, crawl through, put it back again to avert suspicion, and then make the best of our way into the forest. That was how we escaped from Vera Cruz; the trick should serve us ...
— Sea-Dogs All! - A Tale of Forest and Sea • Tom Bevan

... make the animal loosen his grip of poor Peter. He growled and spat as I approached him, and, fearing for the jackdaw's life, I hammered with my fist upon the door of the schoolmaster's press bed and called out: "Mr. ...
— The Pilots of Pomona • Robert Leighton

... strong minded, but as she felt the contact of the creature's cold scales upon her bare arm she could not forbear from shrieking aloud; but even as she uttered the cry, the young soldier, Gray, had caught the snake round the neck, causing it to loosen its hold, but only to coil round his own bare arm, round which it twisted, and twice seized the wrist with ...
— Middy and Ensign • G. Manville Fenn

... under her lashes she watched Ward curiously. She saw his attention waver, saw his eyes wander aimlessly about the room. She sat very still and waited, making scrawly marks that had no meaning at all. She saw Ward's fingers loosen on the revolver, saw his head turn wearily on the pillow. He was staring out through the window at the brilliant blue of the sky with the dazzling white clouds drifting like bits of cotton to the northward. He ...
— The Ranch at the Wolverine • B. M. Bower

... his knees, coughing in the dust, exerting the muscles in his chest and shoulders to loosen the lariat. On either side of him the coyotes wove a snarling pattern of defiance, dashing back and forth to present no target for the enemy, yet keeping the excited horses so stirred up that their riders could use ...
— The Defiant Agents • Andre Alice Norton

... combined with the albuminoids and extractives has considerable nutritive value. Extractives are meat bases, or rather meat which has been dissolved by water, such as soup stock and beef tea. The object in cooking meat is to soften and loosen the tissue, which renders it more easily digested. Another object is to sterilize or kill any germs which may exist and to make it more palatable. The digestibility of meat is influenced by the age of the animal killed and the feeding. The following table is ...
— Public School Domestic Science • Mrs. J. Hoodless

... doctor for the clap used to be stuck up in all the greenhouses. Never see it now. Strictly confidential. Dr Hy Franks. Didn't cost him a red like Maginni the dancing master self advertisement. Got fellows to stick them up or stick them up himself for that matter on the q. t. running in to loosen a button. Flybynight. Just the place too. POST NO BILLS. POST 110 PILLS. Some chap with a ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce

... again; and besides, his cowardice in signing the release of three enemies of the people in order to save his life would tell against him. No, I think he would keep silence. After we have got them safe away we can return and so far loosen his bonds that he would be able, after a time, to free himself. Five minutes' start would be ...
— In the Reign of Terror - The Adventures of a Westminster Boy • G. A. Henty

... prevented by the administration of thirty drops of laudanum, and as many of ether. When it has taken place open the windows, loosen the tight parts of the dress, sprinkle cold water on the face, &c. A glass of wine or cold water when the patient can swallow. ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous

... the "absolute," philosophy. A beautiful fragment of this period remains, describing a spring excursion to the Brocken. His excitement still vibrates in it. Love, all joyful states [72] of mind, are self-expressive: they loosen the tongue, they fill the thoughts with sensuous images, they harmonise one with the world of sight. We hear of the "rich graciousness and courtesy" of Coleridge's manner, of the white and delicate skin, the abundant black hair, the full, almost animal lips—that whole ...
— Appreciations, with an Essay on Style • Walter Horatio Pater

... seventy-third year (December 1867) Carlyle quotes, "Youth is a garland of roses," adding, "I did not find it such. 'Age is a crown of thorns.' Neither is this altogether true for me. If sadness and sorrow tend to loosen us from life, they make the place of rest more desirable." The talk of Socrates in the Republic, and the fine phrases in Cicero's De Senectute, hardly touch on the great grief, apart from physical infirmities, of old age—its increasing solitariness. After ...
— Thomas Carlyle - Biography • John Nichol

... be ascertained by searching for the facts. If the will of the people that the country should be the common property of the Nation be obeyed and the idea of the President that a Dynasty is as cheap as a worn-out shoe is heeded, the latter has it in his power to loosen the string that suspends the bell just as much as the person who has hung it. If the wrong path is not forsaken, it is feared that as soon as the heart of the people is gone, the country will be broken to pieces and the dismemberment ...
— The Fight For The Republic in China • Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale

... had ceased being positively thigmotactic, and, writing as a technical herpetologist, I need add no more. In fact, all my readers, whether Batrachologists or Casuals, will agree that this is an unheard-of achievement. But before I loosen the technical etymology and become casually more explicit, let me hold this term in suspense a moment, as I once did, fascinated by the sheer sound of the syllables, as they first came to my ears years ago in a university lecture. There is that of possibility in being positively ...
— Edge of the Jungle • William Beebe

... Erh heard the tone of his voice, he opened wide his drunken eyes and gave him a look; and realising that it was Chia Yn, he hastened to loosen his grasp and to remark with a smile, as he staggered about, "Is it you indeed, master Chia Secundus? where ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... Elnora, just the same. And I don't keep out. I keep watching closer than ever. I got my slap in the face, but if I don't miss my guess, Kate Comstock learned her lesson, same as I did. She learned that I was in earnest, that I would haul her to court if she didn't loosen up a bit, and she'll loosen. You see if she doesn't. It may come hard, and the hinges creak, but she'll fix Elnora decent after this, if Elnora doesn't prove that she can fix herself. As for me, I found out that what I was doing was as much for myself as for Elnora. ...
— A Girl Of The Limberlost • Gene Stratton Porter

... here a thousand years a million years and yet they are not stale, but are ever fresh, ever serene, ever here to loosen one's crabbed spirit and make one quietly happy. It seems to me I could not live if it were not possible often to come thus ...
— Great Possessions • David Grayson

... flinging out an arm to keep Jackson out of the saddle. The horse, frightened at the stubborn struggle between the two, sprang away. Woodhull was pulled flat by the rope about his neck, nor could he loosen it now with his hands, for the horse kept steadily away. Any instant and he might be off in a mad flight, dragging ...
— The Covered Wagon • Emerson Hough

... sensuous faces, laughing and munching with the shamelessness of school-girls! For to-night they need not hanker in silence after the flesh-pots of Egypt. To-night they could laugh and talk over Olov hasholom times—"Peace be upon him" times—with their old cronies, and loosen the stays of social ambition, even while they dazzled the Ghetto with the splendors of their get-up and the halo of the West End whence they came. It was a scene without parallel in the history of the world—this phantasmagoria of grubs and butterflies, met together for auld lang ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... John Nelson could move his feet. Her father did not dare even whisper again. He longed to tell her to hurry, but dared not speak. Anne was now tugging and twisting at the rope which held her father's wrists, and managed to loosen it so that he could work his hands free. Then they both began to loosen Captain Starkweather's cords, and in a few minutes he too was free. The same thought was running through the minds of both men: If a girl like Anne had such courage, why couldn't two sailors ...
— A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony • Alice Turner Curtis

... like a woman. Haven't I wasted time enough already without sending someone out here to-morrow morning? What makes you think you're worth it?" He turned his back upon her, hung the stirrup of the saddle on the horn, and began to loosen the cinch. ...
— The Furnace of Gold • Philip Verrill Mighels

... got aboard without trouble, as the car was nearly resting on the ground. Joe then found it easy to loosen the anchor and leaped lightly to his place beside the doctor. The latter then replenished the flame in the cylinder, and the balloon majestically soared ...
— Five Weeks in a Balloon • Jules Verne

... said my father angrily. "Mistress Cobbe, I beg you will not trouble yourself to pour that brandy down the man's throat. He has no more power to swallow it than my stick. Basil, open the window, and help me to loosen these things about his throat. Good people, all, I must request you to leave the room. This man's life is in peril, and I can do nothing while you remain. Go home—go home. You will see ...
— In the Days of My Youth • Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards

... Oh, loosen the snood that you wear, Janette, Let me tangle a hand in your hair—my pet; For the world to me had no daintier sight Than your brown hair veiling your shoulders white; Your beautiful dark ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various

... other word did Bradley utter all that night. Not once did he change his attitude, or loosen his hold upon his wrist. Rigid before the fire, as if it were a charmed flame that was turning him old, he sat, with the dark lines deepening in his face, its stare becoming more and more haggard, its surface turning whiter and whiter as if it were being overspread with ashes, and ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens

... thou think'st, content me; for no power Have I to ask, such pity' is at my heart." He thus resum'd; "So may he do for thee Freely what thou entreatest, as thou yet Be pleas'd, imprison'd Spirit! to declare, How in these gnarled joints the soul is tied; And whether any ever from such frame Be loosen'd, if thou canst, that also tell." Thereat the trunk breath'd hard, and the wind soon Chang'd into sounds articulate like these; Briefly ye shall be answer'd. When departs The fierce soul from the body, by itself Thence torn asunder, to the seventh gulf By Minos doom'd, into the wood it ...
— The Divine Comedy • Dante

... he could do would loosen the hold of the monster upon him, and if it had not been for a sailor who ran up with a hatchet and cut the limbs of the Cuttle-fish from its body, the poor captain might have perished in the embrace of this ...
— Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy • Frank Richard Stockton

... and my jewels gone! My gold and treasure stol'n: my house despoil'd Of all my furniture, and nothing left? No, not my wife, for she is stol'n away: But she hath pepper'd me, I feel it work— My teeth are loosen'd, and my belly swell'd; My entrails burn with such distemper'd heat, That well I know my dame hath poison'd me: When she spoke fairest, then she did this act. When I have spoken all I can imagine, I cannot utter half that she intends; She makes as little poisoning of a man, ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) • Various

... drawn so tight about the horse's limbs, by the constrained position in which he was lying, that he could not get up, and the man could not extricate him. The man had gone behind, and had drawn the wagon back, so as to loosen the pressure of the harness upon the horse, but, until Forester and Marco came, there was no one to unbuckle the straps when they were thus loosened; and, if the man let go of the wagon, to go and unbuckle the harness, it was drawn back again at once ...
— Forests of Maine - Marco Paul's Adventures in Pursuit of Knowledge • Jacob S. Abbott

... a way of aiding you," said Dunston Porter, who was examining the rock that held the wheel to the tree. "I think if we dig under the edge of this rock, we can loosen it and roll it down the hill. Then we'll be able to lift the front of the automobile around—that is if we can keep the machine from ...
— Dave Porter At Bear Camp - The Wild Man of Mirror Lake • Edward Stratemeyer

... school, whenever opportunity occurs, should feel it incumbent upon him to urge the parents to make a due use of judicious parental authority. This is the very foundation of all social order, rule, and government, and to relax it is to loosen the very keystone of society. He ought also perpetually to inculcate obedience to their parents upon the children, as being one of their first and most important duties. Some have objected to our schools, that they ...
— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin

... that would be it! The only civil words I ever got out of you when you was a kid was when you hoped to make me loosen up and talk to you about him." Then he asked again with an expression she could not interpret, "You're sure you'd ruther I give up that ...
— The Fighting Shepherdess • Caroline Lockhart

... of the mythology of the older Greeks, Socrates maintains a becoming prudence; he is evidently desirous to avoid every thing which would tend to loosen the popular reverence for divine things.[879] But he was opposed to all anthropomorphic conceptions of the Deity. His fundamental position was that the Deity is the Supreme Reason, which is to be honored by men as the ...
— Christianity and Greek Philosophy • Benjamin Franklin Cocker

... some large boar, they carefully loosen the skin of one of the front extremities, from the breast to the knee, and turn it back like a stocking which one pulls off; after having completely detached it from the bones, they then put their feet into this supple and fresh skin, placing the large toe a little more toward ...
— A Romance of the West Indies • Eugene Sue

... girdle, take off the girdle! What truths are in my mind! I shall speak them and I shall be ashamed. But I shall die in pain if I hold them back. Loosen the girdle, loosen the girdle! Take the rose you gave me and loosen the girdle." She let the rose fall ...
— The King of Ireland's Son • Padraic Colum

... you, my lad. He'd bring up his old rattan, and loosen that stiff hide of yours. There, go to sleep, bumpkin, and think yourself lucky ...
— The Vast Abyss - The Story of Tom Blount, his Uncles and his Cousin Sam • George Manville Fenn

... my hand and walked out on the edge of the cliff somewhat sobered. Directly below me were the pirates, and at my feet I noticed a fragment of rock that I thought I could loosen. Putting down my food, I foolishly picked up a piece of timber which I used as a lever, when, without warning, the mass broke away, and with a tremendous bound went crashing down into the very midst of the pirates, scattering ...
— Tales of the Malayan Coast - From Penang to the Philippines • Rounsevelle Wildman

... our cords as much as possible to get 'em to stretch a bit and give us a better chance of slipping out of 'em. No one come near us for some time, and as we could hear the sound of voices we guessed that a great council was taking place, and we agreed at once to loosen the knots, so as to be in readiness for work, as like enough they'd put a sentry over ...
— True to the Old Flag - A Tale of the American War of Independence • G. A. Henty

... Burnham put down her work and took up a palm-leaf fan and began to use it, running her finger around the neck of her collar to loosen it. "I don't think anybody in Yorkburg begins to understand what Mary Cary is doing here, or what she means ...
— Miss Gibbie Gault • Kate Langley Bosher

... to me before dawn, as the chief difficulty lay in passing through the close stowage in the lower hold. He therefore resolved to return, and wait till the next night. With this design, he proceeded to loosen the hatch, so that he might have as little detention as possible when he should come again. No sooner had he loosened it than Tiger sprang eagerly to the small opening produced, snuffed for a moment, and then uttered a long whine, scratching at the same time, as if ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 3 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... loosen the swaddling-bands of provincial life that confined the heart and brain of her poet that the said poet determined to try an experiment upon her. He wished to feel certain that this proud conquest was his without laying himself open ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... came her exclamation. "I 'll—I 'll give you some extra money to get your suit cleaned. Loosen those lugs, while I get the spare tire off the back. And for goodness' ...
— The Cross-Cut • Courtney Ryley Cooper

... might ordinarily be called a leather tongue. At the back of the boot is a small strap, which is used to fasten the ski heel-strap securely to the boot. Once fixed on the ski, the foot is so secure no fall can loosen it, and the only way to extricate the foot is to undo the three straps. Outside these huge ungainly hair stockings and strangely comfortable boots very thick gaiters are worn. It is very necessary to keep the feet and legs warm in such a cold land as Norway, where the ...
— Through Finland in Carts • Ethel Brilliana Alec-Tweedie

... these lovely leaves. This vapor is taken up by the clouds—nature's aerial reservoirs. Soon this treasure of waters thus accumulated, is restored to the thirsty earth by a largely increased rainfall. Autumnal frosts ripen and loosen each crop of leaves; they fall silently to the ground, where they quickly form a thick, soft carpet of ever increasing thickness. Through the action of shade and moisture, the under surface of this carpet becomes a layer of fine leaf mold, which in turn offers rich ...
— Solaris Farm - A Story of the Twentieth Century • Milan C. Edson

... clearsighted in war, and see in President Wilson's word nothing but an attempt to loosen the bonds between the people and princes of Germany so that we may become an easier prey for our enemies. We ourselves know that an important task remains to us to consolidate our external power and our freedom ...
— Germany, The Next Republic? • Carl W. Ackerman

... "Loosen up on 'em," said Glen. "That one's a scout. You could easily tell he isn't one of 'em. Didn't you see the way they knocked ...
— The Boy Scout Treasure Hunters - The Lost Treasure of Buffalo Hollow • Charles Henry Lerrigo

... on the twigs of your apple trees for little scales. Bring an infected branch to school. Note whether unhealthy-looking or dead branches are infected. Examine scales with a lens. Loosen one, turn it over, and examine with ...
— Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study • Ontario Ministry of Education

... observe, however, on the tendency of enlargement to loosen the bands of political union, cannot be applied to nations who, being originally narrow, never greatly extended their limits; nor to those who, in a rude state, had already the extension of ...
— An Essay on the History of Civil Society, Eighth Edition • Adam Ferguson, L.L.D.

... for sentiments, which if uttered, might loosen her visitor's tongue, but the visitor fortunately loosened it of ...
— The Heart of Arethusa • Francis Barton Fox

... then, so I took a note and the billy to go to the Royal and get some beer. I thought the beer might loosen his mind ...
— Children of the Bush • Henry Lawson

... the pink domino, and began to loosen her hair with stiff, fumbling fingers, then shook it about her shoulders, and sank quivering upon a couch. She could not go to bed. The terror that possessed her was too ...
— The Tidal Wave and Other Stories • Ethel May Dell

... the babble of cries and all the noises which seemed to swell to drown his voice, he could not tell, but in another instant he felt that friendly hands had seized Miss Morison, and were endeavoring to lift her insensible form. He strove to loosen his hold, but the effort gave him agony so intolerable that he could do nothing. A thousand points seemed to rend and tear him as he tried to move, and when a voice somewhere above him shouted: "We'll have to try to lift them together!" he experienced ...
— The Puritans • Arlo Bates

... anxiety not to foul either of the posts the old Squire, who could not see well because of the overhanging hay, drove a few inches too close to one of them, and a wheel passed over a small stone beside the wheel track. The jolt was slight, but it proved sufficient to loosen the unstable "podgum." The load had barely cleared the posts when the entire side of it came sliding down—and grandmother Ruth with it! We heard her cry out as she fell, and then all of us who were behind scaled the wall and rushed to her rescue. The old Squire stopped the ...
— A Busy Year at the Old Squire's • Charles Asbury Stephens

... the long-predicted Messiah, the words of this strange prophet in the wilderness were fraught with deep portent. Could it be that he was the Christ? He spoke of One yet to come, mightier than himself, whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to loosen,[289] One who would separate the people as the thresher, fan in hand, blew the chaff from the wheat; and, he added, that mightier One "will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he ...
— Jesus the Christ - A Study of the Messiah and His Mission According to Holy - Scriptures Both Ancient and Modern • James Edward Talmage

... gather If skill thou wouldst gain To loosen child from low-laid mother; Cut be they in hands hollow, Wrapped the joints round about; Call ...
— The Story of the Volsungs, (Volsunga Saga) - With Excerpts from the Poetic Edda • Anonymous

... down upon three or four rungs of a sector. However gentle the contact, adhesion is at once established. When I lift the straw, the threads come with it and stretch to twice or three times their length, like a thread of india-rubber. At last, when over-taut, they loosen without breaking and resume their original form. They lengthen by unrolling their twist, they shorten by rolling it again; lastly, they become adhesive by taking the glaze of the gummy moisture wherewith they ...
— The Wonders of Instinct • J. H. Fabre

... secure him a colleague to hinder the work. No man more readily and more constantly acted upon the principle of doing the next best thing. His idea of satisfactory conditions for the work was never reached; but this never led him for one day to relax his own efforts or to loosen the strong hand ...
— James Gilmour of Mongolia - His diaries, letters, and reports • James Gilmour

... wall again, and they watched the Tinker's wife loosen the string about the legs of the geese, and tie them by a long cord to the bush, beside the little pig. Then all the Tinker people gathered around the pot and began to eat ...
— The Irish Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins

... same time I applied myself to loosen the stones at the loop-hole, and with much difficulty succeeded in doing so; but, in spite of all my precautions, the unfortunate lady, bewildered with fear and grief, was so astonished when I appeared through the opening, that she uttered a cry ...
— Barn and the Pyrenees - A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre • Louisa Stuart Costello

... a knife, Nora, the string's perished with the salt water, and there's a black knot on it you wouldn't loosen in ...
— Riders to the Sea • J. M. Synge

... his best to free himself of the coils that bound him. He was a strong boy, and struggled might and main to loosen them; but Zuker seemed to have tied them with devilish cunning. Struggle as Paul would, he was unable to loosen them. And the more he struggled, the more the rope cut into ...
— The Hero of Garside School • J. Harwood Panting

... wooden balls, then makes a sail out of a leaf and sets it at just the right angle to balance the seeds and catch the breeze. The winged samaras of the ash and the box elder are other modifications of the same principle. The round balls of the sycamore hang till the high winds of March loosen their strong stalks and then they break open and the club-shaped nutlets inside spread their bristly hairs to the breeze. The hop-like strobiles of the hop hornbeam seem especially made to blow over the surface of the frozen snow; they drop off ...
— Some Winter Days in Iowa • Frederick John Lazell

... lemon-juice into a basin, gradually pour on it the cream, and stir it well until the juice is well mixed with it. Have ready a well-oiled mould, pour the cream into it, and let it remain until perfectly set. When required for table, loosen the edges with a small blunt knife, put a dish on the top of the mould, turn it over quickly, and the ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... and of Spring has loosen'd Winter's thrall; The well-dried keels are wheel'd again to sea: The ploughman cares not for his fire, nor cattle for their stall, And frost no more is whitening all the lea. Now Cytherea leads the dance, the bright moon overhead; The Graces and the Nymphs, together ...
— Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace • Horace

... stronger. No thoroughbred bulldog keeps a firmer hold of the object of its attack than the mole. Mr. Jackson, a very intelligent mole-catcher, says that, when a boy, his hand was so severely and firmly laid hold of by one that he was obliged to use his teeth in order to loosen ...
— Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children • W. Houghton

... pegwood such pieces as you have thus dipped. This ether will carry all loose lint or other things to its bottom, from hairsprings or roller table, and if held but a moment will do effective work, and not loosen shellac. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 664, September 22,1888 • Various

... the water of this fountaine hath an incisive and abstersive faculty to cut, and loosen the viscous and clammy humours of the body, and to make meable the grosse: as also by its piercing and penetrating power, subtilty of parts, and by his deterging and desiccative qualities to open all the obstructions, or oppilations of the ...
— Spadacrene Anglica - The English Spa Fountain • Edmund Deane

... and when you first bit him you should only rein his head up to that point where he naturally holds it, let that be high or low; he will soon learn that he cannot lower his head, and that raising it a little will loosen the bit in his mouth. This will give him the idea of raising his head to loosen the bit, and then you can draw the bitting a little tighter every time you put it on, and he will still raise his head to loosen it; by this means you will gradually get his head and neck in the position ...
— The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses • P. R. Kincaid

... his head on his hands and looked through the narrow window to where the peanut fields lay in blackness. From the stable came the faint neigh of the old mare, and he remembered suddenly that he had forgotten to put straw in her stall and to loosen her halter that she might lie down. He rose and stole softly downstairs ...
— The Voice of the People • Ellen Glasgow

... wrench. It was one he had brought into the place with him. Imbued with new hope be struck a match and lighted his lantern, which he had allowed to go out as it burned up too much of the oxygen. By the gleam of it he looked to see if there were any bolts or nuts he could loosen with the wrench, in order to slide the door back. It needed but a glance to show him ...
— Tom Swift and his Submarine Boat - or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure • Victor Appleton

... the top," said the blacksmith, "you will loosen a stone and drop it on the head of one of your friends yonder"—indicating the courtyard with a jerk of his head. "That will settle him. At the same moment I'll overwhelm the other. We must prevent them ...
— The Slowcoach • E. V. Lucas

... up the stairs. Passing Mitchell's room, he half paused at the door. Should he wake him and explain the situation? He decided against it. The child's condition would only loosen the man's pent-up wrath in the presence of the physician and perhaps delay the examination. He went back to the nursery, and, lifting Dick in his arms, he bore him into his own room, which was cooler. He dampened a towel in ice-water, folded it, ...
— The Desired Woman • Will N. Harben

... the horse to the river bank it said to her. "Loosen, I pray of thee, the halter, that ...
— Tales of Folk and Fairies • Katharine Pyle

... to her throat for a moment as though to loosen her necklace. She had not the appearance of being greatly in love ...
— A Maker of History • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... hear the question. She continued to groan and scream for help. Her lungs were not injured, at all events. The schoolmistress, dropping on her knees, reached into the sulky top and tugged at the seat. It was rather tightly wedged, but she managed to loosen it and ...
— Cy Whittaker's Place • Joseph C. Lincoln

... about there, to see if he, who has been so lately seen, is there; for the servants, roused by her voice, have brought in lights. After she has found him nowhere, she smites her face with her hands, and tears her garments from off her breast, and beats her breast itself. Nor cares she to loosen her hair; she tears it, and says to her nurse, as she inquires what is the occasion of her sorrow: "Halcyone is no more! no more! with her own Ceyx is she dead. Away with words of comfort. He has perished by shipwreck. I have seen him, ...
— The Metamorphoses of Ovid - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes - and Explanations • Publius Ovidius Naso

... Robin's sides and bidding him hasten, calling him many ill names the while. To all this Robin answered never a word, but, having softly felt around till he found the buckle of the belt that held the Friar's sword, he worked slyly at the fastenings, seeking to loosen them. Thus it came about that, by the time he had reached the other bank with his load, the Friar's sword belt was loose albeit he knew it not; so when Robin stood on dry land and the Friar leaped from his ...
— The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood • Howard Pyle

... still grasping, however, his upright support. But this did not remain upright more than an instant, but yielded to his weight, and the end of it which he held went down with him. As he sank, the captain, in his first bewilderment, did not loosen his grasp upon what had been his support, and which still prevented him from sinking rapidly. But in a moment his senses came to him, he let go, and a few downward strokes brought him to the surface of the water. Then he ...
— The Adventures of Captain Horn • Frank Richard Stockton

... this stuff with which you are cramming the brains of young men who are to hold the lives of the community in their hands? Here is a man fallen in a fit; you can tell me all about the eight surfaces of the two processes of the palate bone, but you have not had the sense to loosen that man's neck-cloth, and the old women are all calling you a fool? Here is a fellow that has just swallowed poison. I want something to turn his stomach inside out at the shortest notice. Oh, you have forgotten the dose ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... imagination clothed him with an almost mythic excellence; his brilliant letters added to the impression; and then, at intervals of about two years, he appeared in Paris for six weeks—just long enough to rivet her chains, and not long enough to loosen them. And so it was that she fell before him with that absolute and unquestioning devotion of which only the most dominating and fastidious natures are capable. Once or twice, indeed, she did attempt ...
— Books and Characters - French and English • Lytton Strachey

... flocked in along with this. The hand she had clasped so lately, and the way it had clasped her; a longing that would hardly be gainsaid for the touch of it again. Was she forgetting that? was she trying to loosen that bond? She paused, leaning back against the wall, holding her hands tight. But even with the answer the other cry came up: the world was all reeling under her feet,she must have something that would stand. For the time everything else gave way. It was true, this trouble might pass,then others ...
— The Gold of Chickaree • Susan Warner

... Jim," replied Terry, working away like a madman with spanner and screw-wrench; "if I can but loosen this nut I can disconnect this bent rod and replace it in half ...
— Under the Chilian Flag - A Tale of War between Chili and Peru • Harry Collingwood

... about boats to be sure that to steer one the tiller ought to move from side to side. So, finding that the rope, which was fast to the sail, was keeping the rudder handle from moving, he began to loosen the coils. ...
— The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City • Laura Lee Hope

... up the ends of the reindeer-skins while Lars took off his coat and crept in beside me. Then he drew the skins down and pressed the hay against them. When the wind seemed to be entirely excluded Lars said we must pull off our boots, untie our scarfs, and so loosen our clothes that they would not feel tight upon any part of the body. When this was done, and we lay close together, warming each other, I found that the chill gradually passed out of my blood. My hands and feet were no longer numb; ...
— The Junior Classics • Various

... "Wait, I'll loosen the tippet," came from Songbird, and guided the muffler free of the bob. Then Hans took up the ends and ...
— The Rover Boys on the Farm - or Last Days at Putnam Hall • Arthur M. Winfield (AKA Edward Stratemeyer)

... will be stirring at my first summons. By means of a sheet, fastened to the window, she who is on the first story will in five minutes be in our arms. As for the one on the ground floor—if her window is not grated, we can have her in a second. If it is, we shall soon loosen one of the bars." ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue

... she began to loosen a little the mantle of reserve that had always enveloped her. There may have been—there must have been—influences, both subtle and apparent, working in their several ways to induce her to do this; but the ...
— The Awakening and Selected Short Stories • Kate Chopin

... to loosen the gag. She screamed. Her voice seemed to be bound around by the iron walls as was she herself. She shuddered, The water was rising—had reached her chest, and was still ...
— The Exploits of Elaine • Arthur B. Reeve

... then. He tried to scream—the sound died in a gasping gurgle as Corrigan leaped and throttled him. Later, he fought to loosen the grip of the iron fingers at his throat, twisting, squirming, threshing about the room in his agony. The grip held, tightened. When the banker was quite still Corrigan put out the light, went into the banking ...
— 'Firebrand' Trevison • Charles Alden Seltzer

... Small fish may be broiled whole. The gridiron should be well greased with dripping or olive oil. If a double-wire gridiron is used, there will be no trouble in turning either large or small fish. If a single-wire or old-fashioned iron one, the best way is to first loosen with a knife any part that sticks; then, holding a platter over the fish with one hand, turn the gridiron with the other, and the fish can then be returned to it ...
— The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking - Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes • Helen Campbell

... of our race is to be repaired, and give thy assistance, O most gentle {Goddess} to our ruined fortunes." The Goddess was moved, and gave this response: "Depart from my temple, and cover your heads,[67] and loosen the garments girt {around you}, and throw behind your backs the bones of your great mother." For a long time they are amazed; and Pyrrha is the first by her words to break the silence, and {then} refuses to obey the commands of the Goddess; and begs her, with trembling lips, to grant her pardon, ...
— The Metamorphoses of Ovid - Vol. I, Books I-VII • Publius Ovidius Naso

... resolute not to loosen, she jerked back from him. There was only the high flush which she could not control, and the gaze, heavy lidded, was not so sure as it might have been. She was quietly, ...
— Gaslight Sonatas • Fannie Hurst

... Then for a moment he sat thinking, while the girl again tried vainly to loosen the ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... the different days and months, must be adjusted by inserting or withdrawing wedges. The shutoffs for regulating the water are constructed as follows. Two cones are made, one solid and the other hollow, turned on a lathe so that one will go into the other and fit it perfectly. A rod is used to loosen or to bring them together, thus causing the water to flow rapidly or slowly into the vessels. According to these rules, and by this mechanism, water clocks may be constructed for ...
— Ten Books on Architecture • Vitruvius

... to ascertain by careful looking how the planks had come to give way under the hoofs of his steed. But there was no clew that he could discover. The bridge was not a carefully made one, and it would have been an easy matter for any one to so loosen a couple of the planks that the least motion would send them into ...
— Jack of the Pony Express • Frank V. Webster

... I will keep you. I've more than words, I have these arms to hold you, Nor all the faery host, do what they please, Shall ever make me loosen you from ...
— The Land Of Heart's Desire • William Butler Yeats

... her? Eyes and lips and arms and breast were yearning for her, but, would she not be abashed at such a demonstration? It would serve her right for keeping him waiting, and he took hold of the screen to draw it towards him, and the screen unaccountably resisted. He dropped on his knee to loosen the foot from a supposed catch in the heavy rug, and gave a stronger pull and away it came,—and there like Lady Teazle, only all sweet smiles and welcome and blushes and shy delight, a lovely, winsome picture of loving womanhood, ...
— Marion's Faith. • Charles King

... would, perhaps, be his last harvest at Clinton Magna, where he had worked, man and boy, for fifty-six years come Michaelmas. His last harvest! A curious pleasure stirred the man's veins as he thought of it, a pleasure in expected change, which seemed to bring back the pulse of youth, to loosen a little the yoke at those iron years that had perforce aged and bent him; though, for sixty-two, he ...
— Bessie Costrell • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... matter?" he said, fanning his face, and tugging with his forefinger to loosen his shirt collar from his moist neck. He had the manner of a powerful comrade who means ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1 • Charles Dudley Warner

... that our vessel must have attacked the fort. I was so tightly bound, especially about the neck, that my face became swollen, and I found that my breath was fast leaving me. I could scarcely swallow, and only with the greatest difficulty, articulate. We repeatedly begged our guards to loosen a little the cords which bound us, but the noise of the cannon had thrown them into such paroxysms of terror that they took no notice whatever of our entreaties, but kept looking back, and urging us to go on faster. Life, at this moment, appeared to me a most ...
— Hair Breadth Escapes - Perilous incidents in the lives of sailors and travelers - in Japan, Cuba, East Indies, etc., etc. • T. S. Arthur

... of forty and wore a brown beard, brushed fan-shape; a noticeable baldness heightened his forehead. On his strongly arched nose a double eye-glass was balanced. Suddenly, having looked at the clock which marked half-past eleven, he began to loosen his tie and unbutton his waistcoat and then went out, leaving the study lit as if intending ...
— The Exploits of Juve - Being the Second of the Series of the "Fantmas" Detective Tales • mile Souvestre and Marcel Allain

... had gone, Lyman rose, stretching himself putting up three fingers to hide his yawn. To further loosen his muscles, he took a couple of turns the length of he room, noting with satisfaction its fine appointments, the padded red carpet, the dull olive green tint of the walls, the few choice engravings—portraits of Marshall, Taney, Field, and a coloured lithograph—excellently done—of the Grand ...
— The Octopus • Frank Norris

... it was not yet dark when they reached there, and were met by Madame Grandet, who had been in the college town with her husband for a fortnight. How good it was to see her charming face again! Sara felt the stricture of forlornness and fear about her heart loosen suddenly at ...
— Sara, a Princess • Fannie E. Newberry

... (unbuttoning her coat) Better loosen up your things, Mrs Peters. You won't feel them when you ...
— Plays • Susan Glaspell

... procurator's wife or duchess, if she will but loosen her pursestrings, it will be all the same; but she positively answered that she was tired of the exigencies and infidelities of Monsieur Porthos, and that she would not send him ...
— The Three Musketeers • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... hold it for main and certain that he have not had Kat Howard down. For, having had her down, a would never have thrown a man by the throat for miscalling of her. Therefore Kat Howard is up for all of he, and I may loosen ...
— Privy Seal - His Last Venture • Ford Madox Ford

... versa, are produced; and all these phenomena are connected with alterations tending to the decay or destruction of bodies. It is not probable that the mere contraction or expansion of a solid, from the subtraction or addition of heat, tends to loosen its parts; but if water exists in these parts, then its expansion, either in becoming vapour or ice, tends not only to diminish their cohesion, but to break them into fragments. There is, you know, a very remarkable property of water—its expansion by cooling, and at the time ...
— Consolations in Travel - or, the Last Days of a Philosopher • Humphrey Davy



Words linked to "Loosen" :   unbend, alter, stiffen, unsnarl, disentangle, modify, unscrew, slacken, fluff, weaken, slack, scarify, remit, ruffle, straighten out, change



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