slacken

verb

1. (intransitive)To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack; to lag.

   “The pace slackened.”

   “He seemed tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, the value all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when the weary muscles slacken and the mind marks time.”

   “The action moves at lightening ^([sic]) pace, never slackening for a moment.”

2. (transitive)To make slack, less taut, or less intense.

   “slacken the rope”

   “During this interlude, Warwick, though he had slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly closed the gap between himself and them as to hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro intonation: […]”

   “Elk slackened the rope so he could walk farther away, and together they went awkwardly up the trail toward the grassy little flat[…]”

3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.

   “to slacken lime”