v. [UN-2 3.]
1. trans. To draw the cork of (a bottle, etc.).
1727. Pope, etc., Art of Sinking, 113. Uncork the bottle.
1784. Phil. Trans., LXXIV. 375. The funnel was taken out,… and uncorked over a weighed cup.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, vi. He made the salad; and uncorked the Champagne.
1894. H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 222. Timothy … brought out a fresh bottle of brandy. This he uncorked cautiously.
b. transf. and fig.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XVII. iv. The froth bursting forth from his lips the moment they were uncorked.
1892. Zangwill, Childr. Ghetto, I. x. In the ferment of freethought he had uncorked his soul, and it had run over with much froth.
1894. A. Robertson, Nuggets, etc., 17. Their courage had been uncorked…, and they felt as limp as a wet rag.
2. To draw out, withdraw (a cork, etc.).
1740. Cheyne, Regimen, p. xlix. To uncork the Plugs, and concreted Recrements, that stop the Mouths of the perspiratory Glands.
Hence Uncorker; Uncorking vbl. sb.
1855. Owen, in R. Owen, Life (1894), ii. 8. The uncorker uncorks the bottle.
1881. Miss Braddon, Asphodel, I. 250. She sat … sipping her lemonade, half of which had been lost in the process of uncorking.
