reˈlaxer
[f. as prec. + -er1.]
1. One who, or that which, relaxes or loosens. rare.
| 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xvi. 361 Relaxers are such as loosen any member distended through cold, dryness, or repletion of wind, &c. 1870 R. Broughton Red as Rose (1878) 229 The pliant relaxer of soft limbs. |
2. One who applies the method of relaxation (sense 6).
| 1957 L. Fox Two-Point Boundary Problems iii. 39 There are many tricks a skilled relaxer can use to accelerate the convergence of the process and generally lighten his work. 1959 A. M. Ostrowski in R. E. Langer Numerical Approximation 4 One of the fields where this difficulty is felt in particularly high degree is that of relaxation. The practical relaxer has it ‘in his fingertips’ how to steer the successive relaxations. |
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▸ Hairdressing (orig. U.S.). A chemical product designed to straighten or partially uncurl hair. Cf. relax v.
Chiefly in African-American, Caribbean, and British Afro-Caribbean usage.
| 1960 Ebony Feb. 102 (advt.) No messy..struggles with old-fashioned ‘straighteners’, ‘processors’ or ‘relaxers’! 1981 Westindian World 25 Sept. 8/1 (advt.) A complete hair care line of over twenty-one products, which include conditioners, relaxers and oil sprays. 2000 D. Adebayo My Once upon a Time (2001) iii. 67 The trio had come together, really, as a support network for hair... They had discovered hotrods and relaxers together. |