tauten a rope.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

Lucky Garrett got to do it with no one to tauten the rope.    From Wordnik.com.  [Bitter Gold Hearts]

As he heard the agony in her voice Jake felt his scalp tauten and muscles tense.    From Wordnik.com.  [Yesterday's Echoes]

He felt his stale melancholia leave him, his head become clearer, his nerves tauten.    From Wordnik.com.  [Autumn] Reference

Something seemed to tauten in her face, but she said, 'Oh, it was all right, you know ...'.    From Wordnik.com.  [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]

"Let us tauten the bowsprit shrouds a bit," said Ellis.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ernest Bracebridge School Days] Reference

Ps. 26: 4 tauten (S: 47) ekzeteso; tou katoikein me ktl.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Grammar of Septuagint Greek] Reference

Gen. 34: 12 kai dosete moi ten paida tauten eis gunaika.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Grammar of Septuagint Greek] Reference

A quick whirl -- and how the line did tauten and the rod bend!.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Rival Campers Ashore The Mystery of the Mill] Reference

Polly felt her nerves tauten with the excitement of the sportsman.    From Wordnik.com.  [Polly of Pebbly Pit] Reference

Man and boy, hugging close in the window, each felt the other tauten.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Gentleman A Romance of the Sea] Reference

Jdg. 15: 7 ean poiesete houtos tauten, 21: 3 eis ti ... egenethe haute.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Grammar of Septuagint Greek] Reference

Speak to me when you feel it coming; I don't want it to tauten you up with a jerk.    From Wordnik.com.  [Lady Good-for-Nothing] Reference

Around the girl he drew his right arm; she felt his muscles tauten as he clasped her to him.    From Wordnik.com.  [Darkness and Dawn] Reference

"I reckoned 'twould tauten him a bit for what's ahead.    From Wordnik.com.  [News from the Duchy] Reference

She felt her breasts tighten and tauten.    From Wordnik.com.  [Purchased For Revenge]

Through the mattress she felt him tauten.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Boat of a Million Years]

What is it that you tauten yourselves against?.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Game Of Empire]

Suddenly Colin felt the rope tauten.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries] Reference

These tauten and distend -- one sea of wheat.    From Wordnik.com.  [Miscellany of Poetry 1919] Reference