loosen up vs tense

loosen up

verb
  • To become loose; to loosen; to relax (a muscle, etc.). 

  • To relax; to act less seriously. 

tense

verb
  • To apply a tense to. 

  • To make tense. 

  • To become tense. 

noun
  • Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists. 

  • The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. 

  • An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense. 

adj
  • Pulled taut, without any slack. 

  • Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed. 

How often have the words loosen up and tense occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )