straighten

verb

1. 1

   To cause to become straight.

   [S]o / Do these upbear the little world below / Of Education,—Patience, Love, and Hope. / Methinks, I see them group'd in seemly show, / The straiten'd arms upraised, the palms aslope, / And robes that touching as adown they flow, / Distinctly blend, like snow emboss'd in snow.

2. 2

   To become straight.

3. 3

   To put in order; to sort; to tidy up.

   to straighten one's affairs

   straighten one's account

   Tuilagi and Ashton started in lively fashion, centre Tuilagi doing what he does best, straightening and bursting into the line, and Ashton always looking to leave his wing and get involved in the action.

4. 4

   To clarify a situation or concept to (an audience).

5. 5

   slangTo bribe or corrupt.

6. 6

   To stand up, especially from a sitting position.

7. 7

   informalTo make heterosexual.

   It has been said that to survive in this Wasp society, Blacks must straighten their hair, Jews must straighten their noses, and Gays must straighten themselves. But we will no longer tolerate being straightened. It is the doctors and the straight society who must change.

   It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the "straightening" procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.

Forms

past tense

straightened

past participle

straightened

present participle

straightening

third person singular

straightens