tighten, v.
(ˈtaɪt(ə)n)
[f. tight a. + -en5.]
1. a. trans. To draw tight or tighter; to make taut or tense, to draw close; hence, to fix tightly, to make strict or rigid; to secure. Also fig.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, To Tighten, to make straight, as a Line, Cord, etc., also to dress after a tight Manner. 1755 Johnson, To Tighten, to straiten, make close. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VII. 257 The spider only wants to have one end of the line fast, in order to secure and tighten the other. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. vi, What reins were tightened in despair. 1846 F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 39 The stitches should not be tightened until all the threads are in; and the rule is, that those of the middle, or angles, should be first tightened. 1859 Handbk. Turning 59 If it cuts too deep, tighten the screws a little more. 1896 Lady A. Kerr Life Seb. Valfré 232 We find him..revising and tightening-up the rules of a community. |
| intr. for pass. 1973 Daily Tel. 9 Feb. 2/8 Yellow line no-waiting regulations are to tighten up in London. |
b. To press closely together; to pack; to compress. Also
fig.| 1845 Fairbairn Typol. Script. (1657) I. i. ii. 49 A type so tightened and compressed as to admit of nothing but what pertained to the tabernacle worship. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xvi. (1856) 123 A gradually increasing breeze from the E.S.E...had tightened the floes. |
c. absol. = tight-lace v.
colloq.| 1896 Daily News 29 Oct. 9/5 A fellow servant..used to ask why ‘she didn't tighten a little more’. |
2. intr. To grow tight or tense; to be stretched tight or drawn close. Freq.
const. up. Also
fig.| 1846 Landor Imag. Conv., Emp. China & Tsing-Ti Wks. 1853 II. 118/1 My skin seemed too small for them, it tightened so. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. xi. (1876) 150 As the market tightens..the rate of discount rises. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. vii. (1894) 158 The rope once or twice tightened unpleasantly. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 788 The radial artery is felt to tighten day by day. 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage vi. 86 As the day of the dress rehearsal draws near the acting tightens up. 1947 Milwaukee Jrnl. 25 Apr. 2 His stomach tightened up on him. 1959 Listener 2 July 24/3 We should alter the tax laws to tighten up on tax-dodging. |
† 3. refl. To make oneself ‘tight’ or tidy;
cf. tight a. 4.
Obs. rare.
| 1786 A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. II. 113 Her daughter was run up to tighten herself, fit, as she said, to walk with them. |
Hence
ˈtightening vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1846 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 34 Placing the tightening roller in the position represented by the dotted lines. Ibid. 806 Two of the bracing chains, with their tightening shackle. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 139 The tightening of the padding and the pressing of the head to the board is gradual. 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Tightening pulley, one which rests against the band in order to tighten it. 1902 Words Eyewitness 135 Men..who would have met untold sorrow with but a tightening of the lips. |