| / English Dictionary |
TAUT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Pulled or drawn tight
Example:
a tight rope
Synonyms:
taut; tight
Classified under:
Similar:
tense (taut or rigid; stretched tight)
Derivation:
tautness (lack of movement or room for movement)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Subjected to great tension; stretched tight
Example:
her nerves were taut as the strings of a bow
Classified under:
Similar:
tense (in or of a state of physical or nervous tension)
Derivation:
tautness (the physical condition of being stretched or strained)
Context examples:
The halyards became instantly taut.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
We've a little stranger here—he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit and taut as a fiddle; slep' like a supercargo, he did, right alongside of John—stem to stem we was, all night.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Had there been a steady breeze it would not have been so bad, but the Ghost was rolling emptily in a long sea, and with each roll the canvas flapped and boomed and the halyards slacked and jerked taut.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Each man felt that he had been robbed; and the boats were hoisted in amid curses, which, if curses had power, would have settled Death Larsen for all eternity—Dead and damned for a dozen iv eternities, commented Louis, his eyes twinkling up at me as he rested from hauling taut the lashings of his boat.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
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