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t, to preclude from entering; to deny admission to; to exclude; as, to shut out rain by a tight roof. -- To shut together, to unite; to close, especially to close by welding. -- To shut up. (a) To close; to make fast the entrances into; as, to shut up a house. (b) To obstruct. "Dangerous rocks shut up the passage." S…

To gird with a sinch; to tighten the sinch or girth of (a saddle); as, to sinch up a sadle. [Western U.S.]

, and used as a lever to turn it with; a wrench; specifically, a wrench for unscrewing or tightening the couplings of hose.

A line led from a vessel's quarter to her cable so that by tightening or slacking it she can be made to lie in any desired position; a line led diagonally from the bow or stern of a vessel to some point upon the wharf to which she is moored. Air spring, Boiling spring, etc. See under Air, Boiling, etc. -- Spring back…

Strong and tight; sound; firm; as, a stanch ship. One of the closets is parqueted with plain deal, set in diamond, exceeding stanch and pretty. Evelyn.

one end, used in stowing cotton bales, and similar kinds of cargo which need to be packed tightly.

Tight; close; closely fitting. Shak.

To make tense, or tight; to tighten. They straiten at each end the cord. Pope.

A swelling or other disease in a plant, occasioned by a ligature fastened tightly about it.

To make tense; to tighten; to distend forcibly. The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain. Shak.

Strained; drawn close; tight; as, a strict embrace; a strict ligature. Dryden.

Girded or tucked up; bound; drawn tightly together. His habit fit for speed succinct. Milton.

To bind as with a bandage; to bind or warp tightly with clothes; to swathe; -- used esp. of infants; as, to swaddle a baby. They swaddled me up in my nightgown with long pieces of linen. Addison.

To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.

To castrate, as a ram, by binding the testicles tightly with a string, so that they mortify and slough off. [Prov. Eng.]

as by an adjustment of parts; as, to take up lost motion, as in a bearing; also, to make tight, as by winding, or drawing; as, to take up slack thread in sewing. (r) To make up; to compose; to settle; as, to take up a quarrel. [Obs.] Shak. -- To take up arms. Same as To take arms, above. -- To take upon one's self.…

That which takes up or tightens; specifically, a device in a sewing machine for drawing up the slack thread as the needle rises, in completing a stitch.

Tight; stretched; not slack; -- said esp. of a rope that is tightly strained.

d from macadam road by its firm foundation of large stones with fragments of stone wedged tightly, in the interstices; as, telford pavement, road, etc.

Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax; as, a tense fiber. The temples were sunk, her forehead was tense, and a fatal paleness was upon her. Goldsmith. -- Tense"ly, adv. -- Tense"ness, n.