provide physical relief, as from pain; "This pill will relieve your headaches"
alleviate or remove (pressure or stress) or make less oppressive; "relieve the pressure and the stress"; "lighten the burden of caring for her elderly parents"
cause to feel relaxed; "A hot bath always relaxes me"
become less tense, rest, or take one's ease; "He relaxed in the hot tub"; "Let's all relax after a hard day's work"
make less tight; "relax the tension on the rope"
become less severe or strict; "The rules relaxed after the new director arrived"
make less severe or strict; "The government relaxed the curfew after most of the rebels were caught"
become less tense, less formal, or less restrained, and assume a friendlier manner; "our new colleague relaxed when he saw that we were a friendly group"
any backward region that is isolated from the world and resists progress
a body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam; "the bayous and backwaters are breeding grounds for mosquitos"
Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as prime minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar Sadat (then the president of Egypt) (1913-1992)
set in motion, cause to start; "The U.S. started a war in the Middle East"; "The Iraqis began hostilities"; "begin a new chapter in your life"
begin to speak or say; "Now listen, friends," he began
begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language; "She began Russian at an early age"; "We started French in fourth grade"
achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative; "This economic measure doesn't even begin to deal with the problem of inflation"; "You cannot even begin to understand the problem we had to deal with during the war"
begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object; "begin a cigar"; "She started the soup while it was still hot"; "We started physics in 10th grade"
have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense; "The DMZ begins right over the hill"; "The second movement begins after the Allegro"; "Prices for these homes start at $250,000"
have a beginning characterized in some specified way; "The novel begins with a murder"; "My property begins with the three maple trees"; "Her day begins with a workout"; "The semester begins with a convocation ceremony"
have a beginning, of a temporal event; "WW II began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland"; "The company's Asia tour begins next month"
be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series; "The number `one' begins the sequence"; "A terrible murder begins the novel"; "The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester"