unravel

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled

   To cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle.

   • Mother couldn’t unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.
   • [S]he taking as the watchword of his true patience, vnraueld the bottome [i.e., ball of thread] of her frailtie at length, […]
   • So by thine offspring may repose be found, / As thou unravelest (thus to him I pray) / The knot in which my intellect is bound.
2. 2

   To separate the threads of (something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric).

   • Stop playing with the seam of the tablecloth! You’ll unravel it.
   • [B]e not like her who unravelleth into strands the thread which she had strongly spun, by taking your oaths with mutual perfidy.
3. 3

   To separate the connected or united parts of (something)

   To separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder; to confound, to confuse, to disintegrate.

   • to unravel the broad consensus which was created
   • to unravel the compromise achieved in the treaty
   • VVithin fifteen dayes, aſſiſted vvith the Duke of Spoletum, Frederick recovered all vvhich vvas vvonne from him, and unravelled the fair vveb of John Brens victory, even to the very hemme thereof.
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   1. 4

      To clear (something) from complication or difficulty

      To clear (something) from complication or difficulty; to investigate and solve (a mystery, a problem, etc.); to disentangle, to unfold, to work out.

      • to unravel the confusion    to unravel a plot
      • You muſt unravell agen, and make your vvife / Beleeve you did but try her.
   2. 5

      To reverse or undo (something)

      To reverse or undo (something); to annul, to negate.

      • For everie time thou admitſt mee after, to thy / Pillovv, I'le ſtrike of an hundred pound, / Till all the debts be unravel'd: […]
      • O thou cruel Son of an / Inhumane Father! all my deſigns are ruin'd / And unravell'd by this blovv. / No pleaſure novv is left in me but Revenge.
      • I vviſh they vvould ſeriouſly reflect on it, and unravel that injurious mirth by a penitential ſadneſs, and either ſpend their time better then in viſiting, or elſe direct their viſits to better purpoſes: […]
   3. 6

      To become no longer ravelled or tangled.

   4. 7

      Of threads

      Of threads: to become separated from something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric; also, of something knitted or woven: to separate into threads; to come apart.

      • [C]onſider him as a King, and what favours hath he beſtowed on his Subjects! and then, that his curteſies might not unravell or fret out, hath bound them with a ſtrong border and a rich fringe, a Triennial Parliament.
      • [T]he burning threads / Of woven cloud unravel in pale air: […]
   5. 8

      Of a thing

      Of a thing: to have its connected or united parts separated; to be thrown into disorder; to become confused or undone; to collapse.

      • In an Eternity, vvhat Scenes ſhall ſtrike? / Adventures thicken? Novelties ſurprize? / VVhat VVebs of VVonder ſhall unravel, there?

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