relieve (third-person singular simple presentrelieves,present participlerelieving,simple past and past participlerelieved)
(transitive) Toease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mentaldistress; to stop (someone) feelinganxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.[from 14th c.]
Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thornrelieved 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.
(transitive) Toease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or giverelief from physical pain or discomfort.[from 14th c.]
In 1574, the duke of Alva laid siege to Leiden to gain control of Holland's most beautiful and prosperous city. Torelieve the siege, William of Orange and his followers opened the city's protective dikes to flush out—literally—the surrounding Spanish forces.
Torelease (someone) from or of adifficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.[from 16th c.]
2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look at ‘Hobson-Jobson’”, inInternational Journal of Lexicography, volume27, number 1, page57:
They had thought it obsolete, but, wererelieved of this misapprehension by Yule’s friend Major Trotter.
(originally military) To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.[from 16th c.]
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 torelieve himself, so Barrett stopped the car along the berm of the road, which, unbeknown to the travelers, was directly adjacent to a strip mine.
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, page161:
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 peoplerelieve themselvesnot whenever or wherever they feel like it but at an appropriate time and place (Inglis & Holmes, 2000).
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