1. To stop gripping or holding onto someone or something as tightly as before; to loosen one's grasp on someone or something. Don't relax your hold on that cable for even a second, or the entire rigging could come crashing down! I relaxed my hold on the other player for a moment, and he managed to get out of my tackle.

2. To strop trying to control someone or something as completely or dominatingly as before. The dictator has been showing signs that he may be relaxing his hold on the country a bit, as he is allowing foreign members of the press in for the first time in over 50 years. If you think my father will ever relax his hold on the company, you've got another think coming. You need to learn to relax your hold on your kids. They've got to make their own decisions in life eventually.

1. To sit, lean, or recline into something and rest one's body. After such a long day at work, it feels good to finally crack open a beer and relax into my favorite armchair. I relaxed into my bath to try to ease the tension in my aching muscles.

2. To feel more comfortable, confident, and able in a particular role, job, position, etc. I'm not sued to giving people orders, so it took me a while to relax into this new position of authority. She seemed quite nervous at first, but she's finally relaxing into the role.