tighten

What it means

1. transitiveTo make tighter.

   Please tighten that screw a quarter-turn.

   1 more example

   Just where I please, with tighten;d rein / I'll urge thee round the dusty plain.

   1760, Francis Fawkes, Works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus, and Musæus translated into English by a gentleman of Cambridge

2. intransitiveTo become tighter.

   That joint is tightening as the wood dries.

3. economicsTo make money harder to borrow or obtain.

   If the government doesn't tighten the money supply, inflation is certain to be harsh.

In a sentence

Please tighten that screw a quarter-turn.

Where it comes from

1. Old Englishtyhtan
2. Middle Englishtighten
3. Englishtighten

Synchronically equivalent to tight + -en, but actually derived from Middle English tighten, from Old English tyhtan, thus originally unrelated to tight (Old English *þiht).