relax English · revision 6905

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398|origins=la laxus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /rɪˈlæks/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English relaxen, [[bor|fro|relaxer]] and directly [[bor|la|relaxāre|t=to loosen, open, stretch out]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|re-|t=back]] and [[m|la|laxāre|t=to loosen]], from [[m|la|laxus|t=loose]] (see [[lax]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) from PIE [[ine-pro|*sleg-|t=to be slack, languid]].^(Etymonline) It is a doublet of [[release]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To loosen or ease: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's ''De Proprietatibus Rerum'';^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline has the late 14th century, to make something less compact or dense, originally especially in medicine of muscles.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To decrease tension is from the early 15th century,^(Etymonline) probably before 1425 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988) In Scots law to relax was to free from legal restraint (16th century).^(Hoad 1986) To make less strict or severe is from 1662,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the 1660s in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) and to diminish the force of something, such as one's grip, from 1781.^(OED 1989) The intransitive sense, to become loose or languid, is by 1762;^(Etymonline) of persons, to become less formal, by 1837,^(Etymonline) and to become less tense, to take one's ease, is recorded from 1935.^(Etymonline) The noun, an act of relaxing, is from the 17th century.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) [[relaxation|alt=Relaxation]] meant a rupture of a bodily part in 1392 and later a reduction of a penalty.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1392 – relaxation, a rupture.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1398 – to loosen.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1425 – to decrease tension.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1662 – to make less strict.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1762 – to become languid.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1837 – to become less formal.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1935 – to become less tense, to unwind.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make or become less tense, tight or rigid: ''relax your muscles''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To rest or take one's ease, especially after work or strain.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To make or become less strict or severe: ''to relax the rules''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To make or become less formal or restrained.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[relaxable]]

+ * [[relaxer]]

+ * [[relaxative]]

+ * [[relaxin]]

+ * [[overrelax]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[relaxation]]

+ * [[lax]]

+ * [[release]]

+ * [[relaxant]]

+ * [[laxative]]

+ * [[slack]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}