tensed-up

It was just another way of looking at folks and understanding them; he wouldn't see a body's shape or color, but he'd see whether they was sweating or hot or healthy or tensed-up.

Prentice Alvin Card, Orson Scott 1989

After a bit I deliberately loosened a few tensed-up muscles, and said, 'You won't find out that way.

Whip Hand Francis, Dick 1979

After a bit I deliberately loosened a few tensed-up muscles, and said, 'You won't find out that way.

Whip Hand Francis, Dick 1979

There was panic, or desperation, as well as fury and the will to live, to triumph no matter what the cost, in his tensed-up features, in his expression, as he screwed up his last powers of resistance.

Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets Simenon, Georges, 1903- 1963

She was not afraid, but there rose in her a peculiar tensed-up feeling.

Big Timber A Story of the Northwest Bertrand W. Sinclair 1926

In such a tensed-up state as I cannot describe, nor, at this hour mentally reconstruct, I waited for the creaking of the stairs which should tell of the creature's descent.

The Devil Doctor Sax Rohmer 1921

In such a tensed-up state as I cannot describe, nor, at this hour mentally reconstruct, I waited for the creaking of the stairs which should tell of the creature's descent.

The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu Sax Rohmer 1921

Much of the work involves tensed-up muscles and deliberately odd shapes, but Miller seems capable of finding austere beauty in the unexpected and potentially grotesque.

New York Press 2009

Hence, Baba Farid, no less, is being chanted by my thirteen year old sibling; who is, put bluntly, a tensed-up workaholic who simply wants the highest score in every exam or test or assignment she's given.

Lahore Metblogs 2009

Hence, Baba Farid, no less, is being chanted by my thirteen year old sibling; who is, put bluntly, a tensed-up workaholic who simply wants the highest score in every exam or test or assignment she's given.

Bloggers.Pakistan 2009