straighten

Etymology

It is formed from English straight + -en.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The adjective is streight, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streccan (“to stretch”).^[7][3][8] It replaced an earlier verb, streiten, of the late 14th century.^[3][2] It is not related to straiten, which comes through French from Latin strictus.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make straight: 1525, in a translation of Hieronymus Brunschwig's surgery.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s,^[3] and Merriam-Webster to 1542.^[4]

Semantic evolution

A figurative sense, to correct or clear up an error or a problem, appears almost at once, in 1534;^[2] it now goes mostly with out.^[2][5] The intransitive sense, to become straight, is recorded from 1609 in the OED^[2] but only by 1891 in Etymonline.^[3] From 1653 it meant to sit or stand up straight.^[2] The 19th century added laying out a corpse (1838), straightening hair (1845), bringing a boat or vehicle onto a straight course (1848) and, in the United States, tidying something (1841) or putting a person right (1852).^[2] To straighten up, to lead an honest life, is from 1907.^[3][5] In Australian slang it meant to beat someone (1888),^[9] and in drug slang to give an addict a dose (1926).^[9] In Irish and northern English dialect it meant to tidy or put in order, often with up.^[10] Johnson (1755) defined it as to make not crooked.^[11]

Timeline

• 1525 – to make straight.^[2]
• 1534 – to correct or clear up an error or problem.^[2]
• 1609 – to become straight.^[2]
• 1653 – to sit or stand up straight.^[2]
• 1838 – to lay out a corpse.^[2]
• 1841 – to tidy or put in order.^[2]
• 1845 – to straighten hair.^[2]
• 1848 – to bring a vehicle or boat onto a straight course.^[2]
• 1888 – in Australian slang, to beat or defeat.^[9]
• 1907 – straighten up, to reform.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make or become straight: He straightened the bent nail with a hammer.^[12][4][2]
2. To sit or stand up straight, often with up.^[2][5]
3. To make neat or tidy, often with up: straighten up the kitchen.^[12][2][4]
4. To put right or clarify a problem or misunderstanding, usually with out.^[2][5][4]
5. To correct a person's views or behaviour; to reform, usually with out or up.^[2][5][4]

Word family

• straightener
• prestraighten
• restraighten

Related words

• straight
• stretch
• straiten

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins