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make less close, firm, rigid, tense, or the like; to slacken; to loosen; to open; as, to relax a rope or cord; to relax the muscles or sinews. Horror . . . all his joints relaxed. Milton. Nor served it to relax their serried files. Milton.

Capable of being relaxed.

A medicine that relaxes; a laxative.

The act or process of relaxing, or the state of being relaxed; as, relaxation of the muscles; relaxation of a law.

Having the quality of relaxing; laxative. -- n.

To bind up; to confine; to constrict; to contract. The solid parts were to be relaxed or astricted. Arbuthnot.

on, as a cord on the side of a drum. The little bones of the ear drum do in straining and relaxing it as the braces of the war drum do in that. Derham.

place, in the midst of the verse." Sir P. Sidney. (b) A vent. -- Breathing time, pause; relaxation. Bp. Hall. -- Breathing while, time sufficient for drawing breath; a short time. Shak. -- Rough breathing (spiritus asper) (. See 2d Asper, n. -- Smooth breathing (spiritus lenis), a mark (') indicating the absence o…

The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will (oaths, vows, etc.). A dispensation was obtained…

To relax by pleasure; to make powerless. Angels dissolved in hallelujahs lie. Dryden.

That which diverts; that which turns or draws the mind from care or study, and thus relaxes and amuses; sport; play; pastime; as, the diversions of youth. "Public diversions." V. Knox. Such productions of wit and humor as expose vice and folly, furnish useful diversion to readers. Addison.

m from anything that pains or troubles; as: (a) Relief from labor or effort; rest; quiet; relaxation; as, ease of body. Usefulness comes by labor, wit by ease. Herbert. Give yourself ease from the fatigue of watching. Swift.

The act of softening or relaxing; relaxation. Bacon.

A tumor containing a large portion of the abdominal viscera, occasioned by relaxation of the walls of the abdomen.

Relaxation. [R.] Richardson (Dict. ).

A passing humor; a caprice; a sudden and unusual effort, activity, or motion, followed by relaxation or insction; an impulse and irregular action. The fits of the season. Shak.

he application of warm, soft, medicinal substances, as for the purpose of easing pain, by relaxing the skin, or of discussing tumors.

To yield to force or pressure; to relax; to become less rigid; as, the earth gives under the feet.

Without a grasp; relaxed. From my graspless hand Drop friendship's precious pearls. Coleridge.

etracted, the skin of the forehead tense and dry, the complexion livid, the lips pendent, relaxed, and cold; -- so called, as having been described by Hippocrates. Dunglison. -- Hippocratic oath, an oath said to have been dictated by Hippocrates to his disciples. Such an oath is still administered to candidates for gr…