1. To make lax or loose: relax one's grip.
2. To make less severe or strict: relax a curfew.
3. To reduce in intensity; slacken: relax one's efforts.
4. To relieve from tension or strain: The warm bath relaxed me.

1. To take one's ease; rest.
2. To become lax or loose.
3. To become less severe or strict.
4. To become less restrained or tense.

[Middle English relaxen, from Old French relaxer, from Latin relaxāre : re-, re- + laxāre, to loosen (from laxus, loose).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.