to make less strict or severe, as rules, discipline, etc.: to relax the requirements for a license.
5.
to release or bring relief from the effects of tension, anxiety, etc.: A short swim always relaxes me.
verb (used without object)
6.
to become less tense, rigid, or firm.
7.
to become less strict or severe; grow milder.
8.
to reduce or stop work, effort, application, etc., especially for the sake of rest or recreation.
9.
to release oneself from inhibition, worry, tension, etc.
Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English relaxen < Latin relaxāre to stretch out again, loosen, equivalent to re-re- + laxāre to loosen, derivative of laxus slack, lax
c.1420, "to make (something) less compact or dense," from O.Fr. relaxer (14c.), from L. relaxare "relax, loosen, open," from re- "back" + laxare "loosen," from laxus "loose" (see lax). Of persons, attested from 1837, "to become less formal;" meaning "to become less tense" is