Loosening

Sami's body started loosening up.

Germany is in the process of loosening some social and economic restrictions it put in place in March to control the spread of the coronavirus.

A door ends up loosening, when it is left ajar for a long time.

Alcohol started loosening Yanni's lips.

Turning to metaphor, the loosenings involved in metaphorical interpretation tend not to be pure but to involve a change that results in the extension of the loosened concept overlapping with but not including all of the denotations of the pre-loosened concept.