serrer

Inherited from Old French serrer, from Vulgar Latin *serrāre (“close, shut”), from Late Latin serāre (“fasten, bolt”), from Latin sera (“bolt, crossbar”).

• IPA^(key): /sɛ.ʁe/ ~ /se.ʁe/

• Audio:

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serrer

1. (transitive) to tighten (a screw, a knot)

   Doucement ! Ça ne sert à rien de trop serrer cette vis. ― Gently! It's no use to tighten this screw too much.

   Ton nœud de cravate n’est pas assez serré. ― Your tie's knot isn't tightened enough.

2. (transitive) to shake (hands)

   J’ai refusé de lui serrer la main. ― I refused to shake his/her hand.

3. (transitive) to squeeze

   Il lui serra le bras si fort qu’elle en garda une trace pendant trois jours. ― He squeezed her arm so hard that she had a mark on it for three days.

4. (transitive) to hug, to stay close to

   serrer la côte ― to hug the shore, to hug the coastline

5. (reflexive) to squeeze

   Ils se sont serrés pour lui faire une place.

   They squeezed together to make room for him.

6. (pronominal) to shake (hands)

   Les jeunes hommes d’affaires se sont serré la main. ― The young businessmen shook each other's hands.

7. (slang, transitive) to seduce; to flirt with
8. (slang, law enforcement, transitive) to pinch (to arrest, apprehend someone)

   Synonyms: appréhender, arrêter

• desserrer
• resserrer
• serrage
• serre-joint
• serre-livres
• serre-nœud
• serrement
• serre-tête
• serrer la main
• serrer la vis
• serrer les dents
• se serrer la ceinture
• se serrer les coudes
• serrer les rangs

• “serrer” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “serrer” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• “serrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

serrer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of serrō