unspool

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To remove (film, cotton, etc.) from a spool

   To remove (film, cotton, etc.) from a spool; unwind.

   • Next, unspool twenty cubits of the thin silver wire thread and cut this length in half. If you have less than twenty cubits, unspool all you have, and cut it in two equal parts.
   • He lifted out the roll of tickets and began to unspool a dozen.
2. 2

   To reduce the thrust of a jet engine to idle in flight.

3. 3

   To play

   To play; to be screened.

   • Let all the films of Keaton and Wenders unspool blackly across your mind like the negative of the white line still unspooling down a road in God's imagination, long after the end of his road movie of the end of the world.
   • Trailers for upcoming movies unspool—The Nutty Professor is playing on Tuesday, along with Cinderfella.
4. ›+ 3 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To flow forth, unfold, or play out.

      • At first, he was vague about his reason for coming in, talking about his uncertainty regarding the future and a few other stressors, but as he let his story unspool, he revealed the real reason.
      • I'd watch birds, trail my hands in the water, duck under the boughs of sweeper trees, and watch the river unspool before me.
   2. 5

      To lose or cause to lose one's composure

      To lose or cause to lose one's composure; to fall apart.

      • Normally, the worse a situation got, the calmer and more efficient Kelly became. But not this time. This was so bizarre, her mind unspooled.
      • This tragic illness which had so unspooled members of her family in the past was now directly on her doorstep maybe caused by the incessant explosions he had heard in South Africa.
      • I survey the damage, the guilt enough to make me glitchy, and if you get too glitchy you start to unspool, which means you end up a quivering hot mess in the fetal position, vomiting, your body's way of ending the rush to spare your mind.
   3. 6

      To relax or become relaxed

      To relax or become relaxed; to unwind.

      • After that, he felt exhausted — but unspooled inside — and drove to his Wilshire Boulevard home.
      • Instead, Marion felt herself unspool inside and it was lovely and she wanted to touch Joe Lanigan's arm, lightly, as she wanted to smile to him and even curl herself at his feet.
      • The moment I saw the sign, tension unspooled inside me. Haven's Bay was the place I went when I needed to get away, although I hadn't been here in almost four years. It was home in a way that nowhere else was.

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