tense up

I didn’t realize he was traveling with a protective detail until I saw two men in suits tense up as I approached him to say hello.

When I’m telling one of those stories and I see someone tense up worrying how to react, I’d inevitably pull back and veer off.

When one student appears to tense up with each trigger pull, Nguyen offers advice that could refer to meditation as easily as firearms, urging them to stop anticipating each shot and “let the gun decide.”

The Eagles tensed up — Brown, a co-captain, stopped talking to the media for two weeks — and they tried to put on a unified front in the locker room when pressed on dissension within the team.

“In those situations, some people can tense up and be like, oh s—, I did something wrong,” Brissett said.