"to make taut," 1814, from taut + -en (1). Intransitive meaning "become taut" is from 1849. Related: Tautened; tautening.
Entries linking to tauten
taut adj.
mid-13c., tohte "stretched or pulled tight," possibly from tog-, past participle stem of Old English teon "to pull, drag," from Proto-Germanic *theuhanan, from PIE root *deuk- "to lead," which would connect it to tow (v.) and tie. Related: Tautness.
-en 1
word-forming element making verbs (such as darken, weaken) from adjectives or nouns, from Old English -nian, from Proto-Germanic *-inojan (also source of Old Norse -na), from PIE adjectival suffix *-no-. Most active in Middle English and early modern English, hence most verbs in -en are comparatively recent.