▪ I. straighten, v.
(ˈstreɪt(ə)n)
Also 6–9 streighten, 8–9 straiten.
[f. straight a. + -en5.]
1. a. trans. To make straight (what is bent or crooked); also with out. With up, to bring on to a straight or level course.
| 1542 Udall tr. Erasm. Apoph. 235 A thing is said in latin corrigi, & in englyshe to be emended or streightened, y{supt} is reproued or disallowed, and also that of crooked is made straight. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. viii. §3 A crooked stick is not streightned vnlesse it be [etc.]. 1641 Quarles Enchir. iv. xcix, While he [a child] is a tender Twigge, streighten him. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 684 The crooked Scythes are streightned into Swords. 1727 H. Bland Milit. Discipl. 41 The Soldiers are immediately to straiten their Ranks and Files. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iii. 371 Virtue..straitens nature's circle to a line. 1751 Ld. Bankton Instit. Laws Scot. I. 282 The incloser may apply to the judge ordinary..to visit the ground, straiten and regulate the marches with the best conveniency. 1765 Angelo Sch. Fencing 7 In these motions the arm should be straitned. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 425 They can fresh stock their guns..and streighten the barrels, so as to shoot with proper direction. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 38 The delicate..stems of the Vorticellæ, which on the slightest touch shrink into spiral folds, and again straighten themselves to their full extent. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xix, I straightened myself in my stirrups. 1856 Kane Arctic Expl. II. vii. 76 He is sitting up congratulating himself that he can nearly straighten his worst leg. 1904 E. H. Coleridge Life Ld. Coleridge II. 287 He did not like hard work, but he straightened himself and bowed to the yoke. 1911 Grahame-White & Harper Aeroplane 136 Instead of performing the evolution which is known as ‘straightening up’ a machine, just before coming into contact with the ground, M. Chavez continued on his downward course, at a steep angle, and struck the ground with great violence. |
b. In hand wool-combing: To comb wool for the second time.
| 1886 W. Cudworth Rambles round Horton vii. 75 She ‘jigged’ and he ‘straightened’. |
2. To unravel, disentangle, clear up (what is confused or intricate). Also transf. of persons: to put (someone) right, esp. by explanation. Now chiefly with out.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades ii. viii. 193 So that to iudge, is to streighten and to make plaine. 1894 D. L. Moody in W. R. Moody Life (1900) Pref. 5 What I want is that you should correct inaccuracies and misstatements that it would be difficult to straighten out during my life. 1898 ‘Merriman’ Roden's Corner xxxii. 341 Marguerite took occasion to congratulate herself,..in the fact that..‘things’ were beginning to straighten themselves out. 1900 H. C. Beeching in Monthly Rev. Nov. 88 There are not a few moral questions that I should like to hear straightened out. 1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) iv. 42 Excuse me, Mom, I'm sorry, but I got to straighten this whore out. 1979 W. Styron Sophie's Choice xii. 355 Look, Sophie, you're confusing me. Straighten me out. Please. |
3. To put in order, tidy up. Also in slang use (see quot. 1970).
| 1867 in J. Lucas Stud. Nidderdale (1882) 281 Cum don on thi' bonnet an' shawl, An' streighten thi' cap an' thi' hair. 1884 Manch. Exam. 28 Nov. 5/2 An English mob..eager to straighten up their difficulties and begone before the Riot Act was read. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiii, We straightened the horses after a bit—there was two dead and one with a broken leg. 1901 Antrobus Wildersmoor 297, I'll send Granny up here to straighten things a bit. 1944 C. Hines Black on Black (1973) 198, I had to get them people straight and get 'em straightened fast. 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues xii. 216 I'm short a deuce of blips but I'll straighten you later. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 110 Straighten, to straighten someone is to tell her or him the truth or to pay back money borrowed. |
4. a. intr. To become straight. to straighten up (orig. U.S.): to rise to an erect posture; slang, to adopt an honest course of life; also in gen. use, to adopt a straight or level course. Similarly to straighten out (also fig.).
| 1891 Kipling Light that Failed xiii. 256 Dick's shoulders straightened again, for the words lashed like a whip. 1897 Trans. Amer. Pediatric Soc. IX. 168 After a series of such oscillations..he straightens up, regains his breath, and the paroxysm ends with a long, sighing inspiration. 1907 J. Webster Four-Pools Myst. xix. (1916) 198 He has been dishonest, but unintentionally so. He wishes to straighten up and lead a respectable life. 1914 [see flatten v. 2 b]. 1917 Times 5 July 6/5 Two machines..swerved and one started to fall for some hundreds of feet before it straightened out and regained flying speed. 1921 Rev. of Reviews Aug. 99/2 The..expectations..that the Silesian tangle was straightening out have proved quite illusory. 1939 G. B. Shaw In Good King Charles's Golden Days i. 31 Newton straightens up and stares. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet i. ii. 36 All of a sudden they [sc. mules] straightened out and I mind how I was thinking what a good thing it was they was pointed away from the wagon when they straightened out. |
b. colloq. To settle up an account or debt (with someone).
| 1915 D. H. Lawrence Let. Dec. (1948) 66 But I haven't had the bill yet: I will straighten up with you when it comes. 1966 Amer. Speech XLI. 297 Straighten up, pay a bill. |
5. trans. To bribe or corrupt. Also with out. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1923 E. Wallace Missing Million xxiii. 182 They said they'd tried to straighten you. 1960 [see knock v. 12 i]. 1976 J. O'Connor Eleventh Commandment v. 67, I didn't fancy being in the hands of the Wiltshire police. I couldn't straighten them, but I had one in London straightened. 1982 Observer 15 Aug. 22/4 Somebody who has been successfully bribed to do something has been ‘straightened out’. |
Hence ˈstraightened ppl. a.
| 1665 Dryden Ind. Emp. v. ii, Fasten the Engines; stretch 'em at their length, And pull the straightned Cords with all your strength. [They fasten them to the rack, and then pull them.] 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 125 In which case offer him a straightened-out hairpin. |
▪ II. straighten
var. straiten v.