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taut
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
taut
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪ She was too wound up, too much on edge, her nerves as taut as violin strings.
▪ But the writing is not nearly as tight nor as taut as it should be.
▪ His muscles, though not as taut as those of a young man, bulged with the effort.
▪ Her flesh is as taut as the flesh of an olive.
▪ It premiered in 1986, and is as taut now, as touching, witty, and provocative as it seemed then.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
taut stomach muscles
▪ A single strand of taut barbed wire was strung along the top of the garden wall.
▪ He asked a student to hold a rubber band taut between her hands.
▪ He massaged the taut muscles of her neck.
▪ His new film is a taut suspenseful thriller.
▪ The skin of his face felt dry and taut.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ I liked him instantly, especially as he was a fitness fanatic and his body was solid and taut.
▪ Just for a moment she remained very still, her senses taut, enjoying the light caress of his fingers.
▪ The taut dialogue raises a squirming smorgasbord of questions about the potential for bedlam when our profound individual differences are ignored.
▪ The backs of his thighs were bulging, his hamstrings taut as guy wires.
▪ The muscles in his neck were taut and prominent.
▪ Within a fortnight, Kate was white and taut from lack of sleep and anxiety, but Toby was blooming.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Taut

Taut \Taut\, a. [Dan. t[ae]t; akin to E. tight. See Tight.]

  1. (Naut.) Tight; stretched; not slack; -- said esp. of a rope that is tightly strained.

  2. Snug; close; firm; secure.

    Taut hand (Naut.), a sailor's term for an officer who is severe in discipline.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
taut

mid-13c., tohte "stretched or pulled tight," possibly from tog-, past participle stem of Old English teon "to pull, drag," from Proto-Germanic *tugn, from PIE *deuk- "to lead" (see duke (n.)), which would connect it to tow (v.) and tie. Related: Tautness.

Wiktionary
taut

a. 1 tight; under tension, as in a rope or bow string. 2 Experiencing stress or anxiety. 3 Containing only relevant parts, brief and controlled.

WordNet
taut
  1. adj. pulled or drawn tight; "taut sails"; "a tight drumhead"; "a tight rope" [syn: tight]

  2. subjected to great tension; stretched tight; "the skin of his face looked drawn and tight"; "her nerves were taut as the strings of a bow" [syn: drawn]

Wikipedia
TAUT

TAUT is an acronym or initialism and may refer to:

  • Tramways & Urban Transit, a monthly magazine published in the United Kingdom

Usage examples of "taut".

General Amit could remember the conversation clearly, the taut, angry face of the Russian-born fighter, nicknamed Issar the Terrible.

A lacy bra hugged her taut breasts and glowed a brilliant white against her tawny skin, outlining dark brown nipples and areolas beneath the flimsy material.

The cult of Mithra, less widespread then than it has become since our expedition in Parthia, won me over temporarily by the rigors of its stark asceticism, which drew taut the bowstring of the will, and by its obsession with death, blood, and iron, which elevated the routine harshness of our military lives to the level of a symbol of universal struggle.

Kellan took over, doing it the way Axel had showed us, his head bent, the material of his shirt stretched taut across his shoulders, his arm brushing mine.

She reached the edge of the darkness just as the belay rope went taut.

Very taut belaying betrays her belief that he is in a difficult section.

With both hands wrapped around the golden hilt, she swung her sword, biceps taut, stretched, her entire body behind the killing blow.

I imagined, for a moment, that I had the powers of a cetic and that I could see the wrinkled, ancient Soli through the taut olive skin of his new body, in the same manner one envisions a fireflower drying to a brittle black, or the skull of death beneath the pink flesh of a newborn baby boy.

In the taut silence, Boba Fett gave a silent com mand to the heavily armed figure standing in front of him.

Lying in my sleepsuit and with the taut canopy of my chamber gauzily lit with the gray Korain morning, I called up breakfast, then regretted doing so as my server stalked in.

The trooper on his right had moved away so that the rope between them was taut, and it parted with a twang that set him free but for his gyved hands.

First Hooky Walker in his strange new ship, then an obviously taut officer like Caswell for his deputy, and now, for coxswain, that most important of senior ratings, a man whom Bentley liked, and therefore, by implication, strongly recommended.

Were they to sail with another St Vincent, otherwise known as Old Jarvey or even as Old Nick for his ferociously taut discipline?

Naked to the waist, every muscle taut, he was sculpted like the Kouros statue in the whirlpool tub at Avalon.

Light from the lav filtered into the room, casting shadows on his face, taut with desire, as he lowered his mouth to her breast.