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To draw tighter; to straiten; to make more close in any manner. Just where I please, with tightened rein I'll urge thee round the dusty plain. Fawkes. Tightening pulley (Mach.), a pulley which rests, or is forced, against a driving belt to tighten it.

That which tightens; specifically (Mach.), a tightening pulley.

To make less tight or tense; to loosen.

ctoris, a peculiarly painful disease, so named from a sense of suffocating contraction or tightening of the lower part of the chest; -- called also breast pang, spasm of the chest.

An instrument for tightening the parts of a bedstead.

To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen; as, to brace the nerves. And welcome war to brace her drums. Campbell.

hoe, or copying, as a drawing. Calking iron, a tool like a chisel, used in calking ships, tightening seams in ironwork, etc. Their left hand does the calking iron guide. Dryden.

A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the jionts of framework, etc.

tions, the parts operated on being severed by the crushing effect produced by the gradual tightening of a steel chain, so that hemorrhage rarely follows.

ith waterproof material, for covering floors; oilcloth. -- Floor cramp, an implement for tightening the seams of floor boards before nailing them in position. -- Floor light, a frame with glass panes in a floor. -- Floor plan. (a) (Shipbuilding) A longitudinal section, showing a ship as divided at the water line. (b…

to bind with a view to secure and strengthen, as a vessel by passing cables around it; to tighten; as a tackle by drawing the lines together. Tottem.

A stick or small wooden cylinder used for tightening a bandage, in order to compress the arteries of a limb.

A Spanish mode of execution by strangulation, with an iron collar affixed to a post and tightened by a screw until life become extinct; also, the instrument by means of which the punishment is inflicted.

er (Steam Engine), the fixed wedge or gib, and the driving wedge,key, or cotter, used for tightening the strap which holds the brasses at the end of a connecting rod.

allusion to the ancient custom of gathering the long flowing garments into the girdle and tightening it before any exertion; hence, adjectively, eagerly or constantly active; strenuous; striving. "A severer, more girt-up way of living." J. C. Shairp.

ght-headed; foolish. [Obs.] Ford. Idle pulley (Mach.), a pulley that rests upon a belt to tighten it; a pulley that only guides a belt and is not used to transmit power. -- Idle wheel (Mach.), a gear wheel placed between two others, to transfer motion from one to the other without changing the direction of revolution.…

To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges. Francis. To key up. (a) (Arch.) To raise (the whole ring of an arch) off its centering, by driving in the keystone forcibly. (b) (Mus.) To raise the pitch of. (c) Hence, fig., to produce nervous tension in.

The act of securing, fastening, or tightening, with a lace or laces.

A strap for tightening a saddle girth. [Western U. S. & Sp. Amer.]

f metal), provided with an internal or female screw thread, used on a bolt, or screw, for tightening or holding something, or for transmitting motion. See Illust. of lst Bolt.