loosening

Verb

loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)

1. (transitive) To make loose.
   • to loosen a knot; to loosen one's grip / hold on something

   Synonyms:

   ease, relax, untighten

2. (intransitive) To become loose.
   • I noticed that my seatbelt had gradually loosened during the journey.
3. (transitive) To disengage (a device that restrains).
   • At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,
     And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands.1717, Joseph Addison, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99

   Synonyms:

   undo, unfasten

4. (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
   • Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, volume 5, Dublin, page 52
5. (transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
   • 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.1695, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica, London: W. Rogers, page 185

   Synonyms:

   liberate, release, set free

6. (transitive) To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.
   • […] Feare looseneth the Belly; because the Heat retiring inwards towards the Heart, the Gutts and other Parts are relaxed;1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 1, p. 14

See all 8 meanings of loosen