taut

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   pulled or drawn tight

   taut sails

2. 2
   adj

   Under tension, like a stretched bowstring, rope, or sail; tight.

   The hawser was as taut as a bowstring, and the current so strong she pulled upon her anchor. All around the hull, in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream.

3. 3
   adj

   Not flabby; firm, toned; (of a person) having a lean, strong body.

   I watched him from the side as he strode along. His walk was quite different; his face too looked tauter.

4. 4
   adj

   Containing only relevant parts; brief and controlled.

   If he curbs his swing a little and gets something crisper and tauter in his methods he may yet be very good.

5. 5
   adj

   Experiencing anxiety or stress.

   His outward appearance was calm, but inside he was very taut.

6. 6
   adj

   Neat and well-disciplined; (by extension) efficient and in order.

   [O]ur friend was a hearty toper in the days of his Whiggery, but no sooner turned one of the tautest of Tories, than he took to the tea-pot. It seems a thing against nature.

7. 7
   adj

   Strong; uncompromising.

   Yet the 2016 Éxilé rosé from Lise et Bertrand Jousset in the Loire Valley, made mostly of gamay, was yeasty let light and lithe, while the 2016 Indigeno from Ancarani in Emilia-Romagna, made of trebbiano, was taut and earthy.

8. 8
   verb

   To make taut; to tauten, to tighten.

   The machine is operated by a double friction drum hoist. From the rear drum a steel cable, called the tension cable, leads to a set of fall blocks attached to the mast pole. These blocks afford a means for slackening and tauting the track cable, one end of which is supported by the fall blocks and the other fastened to a "dead man" or other suitable anchorage planted in the bank of the pit opposite the dumping point.

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Middle English taught [and other forms], Early Middle English tohte, towehte (“strained, stretched; distended; tight; firm”), probably from tough, touth, touʒth, toʒt (“powerful, strong; fierce, violent; not tender, tough; hardy, resilient; steadfast, stout; difficult to do or endure”) and possibly influenced by togen, towen, past participle of ten (“to extend, stretch out; to drag, haul, pull, tow, tug”) (modern English tee (“(obsolete) to draw, lead; to draw away; to go, proceed”)), or directly from its etymon Old English tēon (“to drag, draw, pull”) (ultimately…