relieve

present singular third person relieves · participle present relieving · participle past relieved · past relieved · alternative obsolete releeve

1. transitiveTo ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.First known use 14th c.

   I was greatly relieved by the jury's verdict.

   1 more example

   Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

2. transitiveTo ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort.First known use 14th c.

   Synonyms: liss

3. transitiveTo alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.).First known use 14th c.
4. transitiveTo provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty).First known use 14th c.
5. obsoleteTo lift up; to raise again.First known use 15th–17th c.
6. archaicTo raise (someone) out of danger or from (a specified difficulty etc.).First known use 15th c.
7. lawTo free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.First known use 15th c.

   This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.

8. transitiveTo bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the siege on.First known use 16th c.

   In 1574, the duke of Alva laid siege to Leiden to gain control of Holland's most beautiful and prosperous city. To relieve the siege, William of Orange and his followers opened the city's protective dikes to flush out—literally—the surrounding Spanish forces.

   1994, John H. Makin, Norman J. Ornstein, Debt and Taxes: How America Got into Its Budget Mess and What We Can Do about It, New York, NY: Times Books, →ISBN, page 52

9. To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.First known use 16th c.

   They had thought it obsolete, but, were relieved of this misapprehension by Yule’s friend Major Trotter.

   2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look at ‘Hobson-Jobson’”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 57

   1 more example

   Carrados was carrying a small leather case which he allowed Loudham to relieve him of, together with his hat and gloves.

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

10. To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.First known use 16th c.
11. archaicTo make (something) stand out; to make prominent, bring into relief.First known use 18th c.

    The henna should be deeply dyed to make / The skin relieved appear more fairly fair […]

    1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, III.76

    1 more example

    The night whose sable breast relieves the stark / White stars is no less lovely being dark

    1927, Countee Cullen, From the Dark Tower

12. euphemisticreflexiveTo urinate or defecate.First known use 20th c.

    2 more examples

    1989, Snyder v. Harmon, 562 A.2d 307 (Pa. 1989) (Zappala, J., writing for the majority), Pennsylvania Supreme Court As they traveled along L.R. 33060, one of the passengers mentioned he had to relieve himself, so Barrett stopped the car along the berm of the road, which, unbeknown to the travelers, was directly adjacent to a strip mine.

    For example, the times and locales for defecation and urination have come under tighter regulation in the modern West to meet an increasing demand – explicitly articulated in workplace rules and regulations – that people relieve themselves not whenever or wherever they feel like it but at an appropriate time and place (Inglis & Holmes, 2000).

    2017, Hannah Frith, “Ejaculatory Timing and Masculine Identities: The Politics of Ab/normalising Sexual Performance”, in Jonathon Louth, Martin Potter, editors, Edges of Identity: The Production of Neoliberal Subjectivities, Chester, England: University of Chester Press, →ISBN, page 161

    Synonyms: boo-boo, cack, choke a darkie, crap, defecate, do one's ease, ease oneself, do a number two

13. euphemisticreflexiveTo ease one's own desire to orgasm, often through masturbation to orgasm.

    Nevertheless, to relieve oneself takes the edge off the desire and doesn't take advantage of others.

    2014, Abbie Smith, Celibate Sex: Musings on Being Loved, Single, Twisted, and Holy

    Synonyms: abuse, bash one out, bate, beat it, beat off, crank one out, fap, frig