See Also: Relaxation(medicine)
relaxation(dictionary)
relaxation(dictionary)
relaxation factor(medicine)
cardioesophageal relaxation(medicine)
transverse relaxation(medicine)
relaxation time(medicine)
relaxation techniques(medicine)
relaxation suture(medicine)
relaxation response(medicine)

relaxation (iou)



relaxation noun. LME.
[Latin relaxatio(n-), from relaxat- pa. ppl stem of relaxare: see RELAX verb, -ATION.]
a. Partial (or, formerly, complete) remission of a penalty, burden, duty, etc. Formerly also, the document granting this. LME.
b. Release from a legal penalty, spec. that of diligence or outlawry. Scot. obsolete exc. Hist. M16.
c. Release from captivity. E17.
d. Hist. The process of handing over a heretic to the Inquisition for judgement and execution. Cf. RELAX verb 2b. E19.
a. Release from mental or physical tension, esp. by recreation or rest. M16.
b. Physiology. The loss of tension in a part of the body, spec. in a muscle when it ceases to contract; the state of a resting muscle. E17.
Diminution or reduction of strictness or severity. E17.
D. M. Thomas I mixed a little painting with my poetry, just as relaxation. P. Dally The beneficial effects of opium are relaxation and tranquillity.
Abatement of force or intensity. L17.
F. Spalding Some penalties..disappeared and there was a slight relaxation of the rules.
Chiefly Physics. The gradual return of a system towards equilibrium; the reduction of stress caused by gradual plastic deformation in material held at constant strain. Freq. attrib. M19.
C. Pebody Stuart complains..of his relaxation of energy.
Engineering & Math. A method of solving a set of simultaneous equations by guessing a solution and successively modifying it to accord with whichever equation or constraint is currently least closely satisfied. Freq. attrib. M20.
Comb.: relaxation oscillator Electricity: in which sharp, sometimes aperiodic oscillations result from the rapid discharge of a capacitor or inductance; relaxation time Physics the time taken for a system to return to a state of equilibrium; spec. (when the process of return is exponential) the time taken for the deviation from equilibrium to be reduced by a factor e (approx. 2.718).