slacken
English
Etymology
From Middle English slakenen, equivalent to slack + -en.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈslæ.kən/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ækən
Verb
slacken (third-person singular simple present slackens, present participle slackening, simple past and past participle slackened)
- (intransitive) To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.
- The pace slackened.
- 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 305520:
- He seemed tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, the value all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when the weary muscles slacken and the mind marks time.
- (transitive) To make slack, less taut, or less intense.
- slacken the rope
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, “chapter I”, in The House Behind the Cedars:
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- 1986, Mari Sandoz, The Horsecatcher:
- Elk slackened the rope so he could walk farther away, and together they went awkwardly up the trail toward the grassy little flat […]
- To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.
- to slacken lime
Related terms
- slack
- slacker
Translations
(intransitive) to gradually decrease in intensity
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(transitive) to make slack, less taut, or less intense
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Anagrams
- cankles, snackle