to loosen up
8
3.0
- phrasal verb
- /ˈluːsən ʌp/
- Informal
:
aflojarse
- He spent a few minutes to loosen up his back and shoulders with simple stretches.
- loosen up the muscles
- loosen up your arms
- stretching exercises to loosen up
Examples
-
Robert takes a couple of jumpers to loosen up, stretches out a bit doing a couple of toe touches and a few windmills with his arms, and then they go at it.
Fiction book (1999) -
She complained that her neck and shoulders were stiff, shrugging repeatedly, trying to loosen up the muscles.
Fiction book (1998) -
We need to loosen up our legs a little bit.
-
And it's incredible how much that loosens up my entire lower back and hips.
-
I thought, you know, a good hot swim would loosen up the muscles.
-
You have to loosen up your wrists.
-
You were much too tense." Jesse rolled his head around and shook his arms to loosen up.
Fiction book (1994) -
Before the race, it's important to loosen up your muscles with some gentle stretches.
-
The yoga instructor advised everyone to loosen up their bodies before beginning the workout.
Synonyms
95
2.2
Do gentle exercises to prepare the body for harder activity
88
1.0
Make something less tight so it can move or open
78
1.0
To make or become less tight
20
3.4
Move part of your body, for example your arm, to reach or see something
19
3.9
To make someone more willing to agree or make something easier to bend
4
4.8
To make the body or muscles bend and move easily by warming up
2
3.4
Prepare your body for exercise by stretching or doing light movements
1
5.5
Become or make less tight, like a rope
To move or stretch your muscles so they are ready to work
Move your body or muscles again to make them feel less stiff
To make muscles feel less tight or stiff
To make muscles or nerves feel less tight after stress
Antonyms
How Flexible
185
1.5
- Informal
2
3.4
- Informal
8
3.0
95
2.2
119
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make one's body more relaxed or limber' is directly derivable from combining 'loosen' (make less tight) with the particle 'up', which here conveys a completive/intensifying result. This verb+particle pattern is common and compositional in English, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Loosen up comes from actually making tight muscles loose by stretching or moving them until they feel softer and can move more easily. That's why loosen up means 'to make your body more relaxed or limber before exercise'.