INHIBITED, INHIBITIONS
ADJECTIVES
► BUTTONED UP reluctant to reveal emotion or to express thoughts freely; reserved, inhibited, or formal in manner or disposition; repressed prim → 1767
► HUNG UP inhibited, neurotic → 1952 US
► UPTIGHT inhibited, narrow-minded, very correct and strait-laced → 1968 US
VERBS
► UNPIN ONE’S BACK HAIR to relax one’s inhibitions → M19 sl., orig. US
► WAIL to abandon one’s inhibitions; to lose oneself in an activity, esp. of musicians, or of sexual pleasure; → 1955 sl., orig. African-American
Lexicophilia 