To make (or become) tight or taut
“A detail of eight men would tighten the rope as much as they could, and then they would mount a cable jack on it.”
To make fast or more secure
“Hold both trim pieces tight to the door with one hand as you tighten the screws with the other.”
To reinforce or make stronger
“He struggled to tighten his grip on his gun and focus his eyes.”
To constrict or make or become narrower
“Once any weight was put into the bag, the top opening would tighten up and make it hard to get anything into the bag unless we took it down from the hook.”
To make more strict or stringent
“Mr. Chairman, as you know, in this committee as well as in other committees, efforts have been made to tighten security on Capitol Hill.”
To gather into wrinkles
To condense or conflate so as to occupy less space or time
To make improvements to
To make adjustments to (an engine) in order to improve its performance
To exercise and strengthen muscles in order to firm up
To revise or improve a piece of work
To twist or turn, especially in order to fix something firmly
To fix securely or tightly
To make or become rigidly fixed or immovable
To pull or elongate a stretchable object
To (excessively) exert for a particular task, purpose or goal
To decrease in amount or degree
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