Wiktionary

straighten out

English

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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straighten out (third-person singular simple present straightens out, present participle straightening out, simple past and past participle straightened out)

  1. (transitive) To make straight.
    Straighten out your necktie and comb your hair.
    • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
      "Then bring them to me," she said. And when the tinsmiths came, bringing with them all their tools in baskets, she inquired, "Can you straighten out those dents in the Tin Woodman, and bend him back into shape again, and solder him together where he is broken?"
  2. (transitive, idiomatic) To correct or rectify.
    I hope they can straighten out the problem with my bill soon.
  3. (transitive, idiomatic) To eliminate confusion from or concerning.
    As soon as I straighten out which of the twins is which, I'll start calling them by their names.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      “What have they done to stir him up?” “It's this book Daddy wrote about preparatory schools. He wrote a book about preparatory schools. Did you know he had written a book about preparatory schools?” “Hadn't an inkling. Nobody tells me anything.” “Well, he wrote this book about preparatory schools. It was about preparatory schools.” “About preparatory schools, was it?” “Yes, about preparatory schools.” “Thank God we've got that straightened out at last. I had a feeling we should get somewhere if we dug long enough. And – ?”
  4. (intransitive, idiomatic) To correct; to stop doing something wrong.
    It is not enough to stand aside and hope problems straighten out on their own.
  5. (transitive) To tidy, neaten, or organize.
  6. (transitive, Mafia slang) To be made a made man in a Mafia organization.
  7. (transitive, informal) To make heterosexual.
    • 1987 December 27, Charley Shively, “AIDS In The Mind Of The Left And The Mainstream”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 24, page 10:
      Rather superficial is the "medical" essay by Richard Green, who has previously been known as the psychologist who tortured boys with the "sissy syndrome." He's just completed a degree in law at Yale (presumably he's preparing for all the malpractice suits from parents who paid him to "straighten out" their boys, boys who have found the clone look very fashionable in the '80s)
    • 1993 October 16, [email protected], “GLB-TV list, 10/16/93”, in soc.motss‎[1] (Usenet):
      This is "straightened out" version of Lilian Hellman's lesbian-oriented melodramatic/tragic play. In Hellman's play, a student falsely accuses two teachers of being a lesbian couple, which sends the local town into a rage. In this movie version, the kid accuses the women of a different "vice", because the producers didn't think the movie-going public was ready for a film about lesbianism.
    • 1999 September 14, P. J. Remner, “It's Only Natural”, in soc.motss‎[2] (Usenet):
      Most biological mistakes can be treated with modern plastic surgery and prostheses. I've never heard of a gay person "successfully" "straightened out". You can't erase instinct!

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