The DICT Development Group

  Taut \Taut\, a. [Dan. t[ae]t; akin to E. tight. See Tight.]
     1. (Naut.) Tight; stretched; not slack; -- said esp. of a
        rope that is tightly strained.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Snug; close; firm; secure.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Taut hand (Naut.), a sailor's term for an officer who is
        severe in discipline.
        [1913 Webster]

  taut
      adj 1: pulled or drawn tight; "taut sails"; "a tight drumhead";
             "a tight rope" [syn: taut, tight]
      2: subjected to great tension; stretched tight; "the skin of his
         face looked drawn and tight"; "her nerves were taut as the
         strings of a bow"

  56 Moby Thesaurus words for "taut":
     all ataunto, anxious, apprehensive, ataunt, bungup and bilge-free,
     close, dragged out, drawn, drawn out, elongated, extended, firm,
     in suspense, in trim, keyed-up, lengthened, neat, on edge,
     on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, orderly, pokerlike, prolongated,
     prolonged, protracted, pulled, quivering, ramrodlike, renitent,
     rigid, rodlike, shipshape, smart, spruce, spun out, starched,
     starchy, stiff, stiff as buckram, straggling, strained, stretched,
     stretched out, stretched tight, strung out, tense, tidy, tight,
     trig, trim, under a strain, unrelaxed, uptight, virgate,
     with bated breath, with muscles tense