tauten

Then his huge body tautened as he surged into her.

But her shoulders tautened as if she were screaming within herself.

The men had tautened, waiting for the leash to slip.

Her body tautened in his arms and she made a pathetic attempt to shift away.

This time the line first tautened and then twanged loose.

Despite the robe, it could be seen how his wasted frame tautened.

The hand that was spread against her stomach tautened.

The line tautened and I set the hook; it caught and held.

The tendons tautened and the skin around his throat flushed.

He raised a hand to the scar that tautened the flesh of his cheek.

The spider's web across the old woman's face tautened suddenly: had a fly been trapped?

Bud barely had time to grab hold again with both hands before the rope tautened.

The cord tautened again and I was pulled sideways, getting fed up with it.

And then see how you've taken this disappointment, when everybody knows you must have been tautened up to shying-point!

Herrera, in the front row though well back, started, tautened, and squinted.

Behind his grin, the lines of his face tautened across their bones.

Then his guide rope tautened and pulled him on.

Grant's wife tautened a recollection for him now and again, or gave the edge of an anecdote.

The wire tautened, then, with a single violent convulsion, snapped.

The rope about his waist suddenly tautened and he was again dragged beneath the surface.

When the Jeep hit a boulder, the muscles of his jaw tautened with pain.

Intent blazed from his eyes, tautened the strong lines of his face.

The first rope bridge was being tautened within twenty minutes, and a security team went swarming across it.

Soon it tautened; then he knew that it was still attached to the creature.