1. trans. a. To unfix; to deprive of firmness or fixity; to make loose or slack. Also absol.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 252. Al his attente is uorte unuestnen heorten & fort to binimen luue, þet halt men togederes.
1382. Wyclif, Isaiah xiv. 27. The Lord forsothe of ostes demede, and who shal moun vnfastnen?
1532. Hervet, Xenophon’s Househ., 55 b. Els the sonne dryinge the erthe away from the rootes of the plante, shulde lewse and vnfasten it, and so kyll it.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. i. 209. Plucking to vnfixe an Enemie, Hee doth vnfasten so, and shake a friend.
1698. Atterbury, Serm. (1737), IV. 316. He must take care not to … come within reach of anything that may anyways unfasten his resolutions.
1736. Carte, Ormonde, II. 373. The design of this proposal was, first to unfasten him, and then to lay him totally aside.
b. To detach; to undo or release.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365/1. Onfestyn, idem quod on-losyn.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. viii. He had no sooner unfastned his hold, but that a wave forcibly spoiled his weaker hand of hold.
1633. T. James, Voy., 14. We vnfastened our Ship, and came to saile.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 879. Then … every Bolt and Bar Of massie Iron or sollid Rock with ease [she] Unfast’ns.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xii. We will see whether my key cannot unfasten all the locks that hold it.
1860. Warter, Sea-board, II. 459. Unfastening, as it were, the links that bound the people to their Parish Church.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, vii. Lady Audley was standing unfastening her dress.
a. 1873. Lytton, in Life & Lett. (1883), I. 289. The man began to unfasten the boat.
fig. 1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, II. 29. She … prayed me to come to her house as soon as I could unfasten my self from my Mistresse.
2. intr. To become detached or loose; to open; fig. to separate.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, I. 2093. Nou lestne: Ȝef þe oþer oþren so by-swykeþ, No moȝe hy nouȝt onuestne.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. cxxvi. (1869), 67. The bocle holt and keepeth faste the girdel that it vnfastne nouht.
1865. Swinburne, Atalanta, 91. From this time … My lips shall not unfasten till I die.
