1. trans. To make open; to cause to open.
13[?]. E. E. Allit P., B. 1438. He with keyes vn-closes kystes ful mony.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 23. Aurora, ageyne the morowe gray, Causith the daysy hir croune to unclose.
1530. Palsgr., 766/2. These letters shall nat be unclosed for me, I wot nat from whence they come.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 101. They vnclose and shake theyr handes.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. (1823), LXXVIII. x. He unclos’d the garners of the skies.
1700. Dryden, Cymon & Iph., 177. At length awaking, Iphigene the fair … Unclos’d her eyes.
1761. Gray, Descent Odin, 49. Unwilling I my lips unclose.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, viii. She unclosed the casement to listen to the strains of the music.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., ix. Surely the demons of Ambition and Avarice will unclose the talons which they have fixed upon this man.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., ix. The woman slowly unclosed her large dark eyes, and looked vacantly at her.
absol. 1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 20333. Yiff they hadde commyssioun … Bothe to shette and ek vnclose.
b. fig. To disclose, make known, reveal.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 26. Me mynez on one amonge oþer, as maþew recordez, Þat þus of clannesse vn-closez a rul cler speche.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 2760. How sore aforn that they yt close, ye muste hem make yt to vnclose By trewe reuelacyon. Ibid. (1446), Two Nightingale P., ii. 51. The briddes song I shal to the vnclose.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., viii. 212. He … uncloses the treasures of that celestial wisdom which speaks to men.
† c. To detach, unharness. Obs.–1
1615. Chapman, Odyss., IV. 32. Inform your pleasure, if we shall unclose Their horse from coach.
2. intr. To become open.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 65. Hire [the daisy’s] chere is pleynly sprad in the brightnesse Of the sonne for ther yt wol vnclose.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 807. In hor mouthe caste [it], And þai clappe shall full clene, & neuer vnclose aftur.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., VI. 218. Take roses that bigynneth forto vnclose.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XVIII. 235. Wak’d at their steps, her flowing eyes unclose.
a. 1785. Glover, Athenaid, XXVII. Now they reach The further mouth unclosing in a dale Abrupt.
1808. Helen St. Victor, Ruins of Rigonda, II. 94. She perceived her curtains unclose, and the form of her mother leaning over her.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, I. 54. She heard the door underneath unclose.
† 3. trans. To hatch. Obs. (Cf. DISCLOSE v. 3 b.)
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hawking, a ij. And when they [sc. hawks] bene unclosed and begynneth to feder any thyng of lengthe anoon be kynde they will draw somwatt out of the nest.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 325. Of Eagles it maie be taken, that their young ones doe sucke bloud anone after they be unclosed.
Hence Unclosing vbl. sb.
1705. Stevens, II. s.v., An Unclosing of that which was shut, abertura.
1840. Poe, W. Wilson, Wks. 1864, I. 428. The violent, although partial unclosing of the door.
1874. Contemp. Rev., Oct., 690. The unclosing of the potential parts of a plant in its development from a germ.
