Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To remove the stiffness from; to relax; to make pliant.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ stiffen

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Examples

  • I walked around quietly outside to unstiffen and warm myself and after a while drank more water and sat down again to wait for dawn.

    They didn’t read Pitchfork or Stereogum or Gorilla vs. Bear or Hipster Runoff Josh Spilker 2010

  • When he planned his revenge on Mordechai for his disrespect, he didn't just plan to unstiffen his neck.

    gillpolack: Once upon a time, I had spare moments in my life... gillpolack 2009

  • Grill over medium coals, inner side down until the pepper seems to unstiffen and relax a bit, then grill the skin side until slightly charred.

    Buzzine » Taste the Good Life 2009

  • The rush of wind in his face, Brox felt his limbs unstiffen.

    THE SUNDERING RICHARD A. KNAAK 2005

  • But finally she was torn from their arms and hoisted into the cart; and Mahony, the reins in his hand, began to unstiffen from the wooden figure-head he had felt himself during the ceremony, and under the whirring tongues and whispered confidences of the women.

    Australia Felix 2003

  • I walked around quietly outside to unstiffen and warm myself and after a while drank more water and sat down again to wait for dawn.

    To The Hilt Francis, Dick, 1920- 1996

  • Doughty had to unstiffen a knee to prevent himself coming taut and prone on the ground, and a hard shove with Ishmael's elbow, thrown backwards against his shoulder, combined with the leg-play to send him spinning sideways.

    Secret Bread F. Tennyson Jesse

  • In order to unstiffen my limbs, which were numbed by the wet and cold, I walked to and fro in our little camp, gazing out into the darkness.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 363, January, 1846 Various

  • Nature and human life, after suffering from somewhat frigid treatment at the hands of the classical school, seemed to unstiffen and to become warm, living, and natural with the romantic writers.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913

  • He had to come out of the house, following Viola and her mother all the way to the far end of the lawn, where the Canon was ready for him with a face which, try as he would -- and he tried his hardest -- he could not unstiffen.

    The Belfry May Sinclair 1904

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