[OE. uncnyttan (UN-2 4 b).]
1. trans. To untie or undo (a knot or something tied).
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke iii. 16. Þæs ic ne eom wyrþe þæt ic hys sceo-þwancg uncnytte.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 137. Ich nam noht ne forðen wurðe þat ich un-cnutte his sho þuong.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 43. So þat þe more wynd he wol haue, he wil vnknette þe mo knottes.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 7091. Hir kerchef lift vp wold he Hir visage there forto see; Tho thoght he hir kerchefe to vnknyt.
1530. Palsgr., 768/1. Unknyt my gyrdell, I praye you.
1547. in Leland’s Collect. (1774), IV. 321. Then tooke he the said Rope, and … tyed himselfe by the Right Legg,… and after … unknet the Knot, and came downe again.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 66. Tying on her silken buskins with knots easily not vnknit.
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey (1677), 147. Binde me you must upright, both hand and foot, And so as I may not the knot unknit.
b. In figurative contexts (with knot or bond).
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1150. Ich habbe uncnut summe of þeos cnotti cnotten.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. pr. iii. (1868), 154. Þat som men wenen þat þei mowen assoilen & vnknytten þe knot of þis questioun.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, III. vi. (Skeat), l. 129. Thilke falsheed … hath unknit the bond of understanding reson bytwene wil and the herte.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 3202. Wher so as her [sc. Venus’s] sort was set, The knot never was vnknet.
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (1884), 44. I haue spoused me to hym in a bonde þat neuer schal be vnknytte.
1561. Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc, IV. ii. Whan thus I sawe the knot of loue vnknitte.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. i. 15. Will you againe vnknit This churlish knot of all-abhorred Warre?
1850. W. R. Williams, Religious Progress, IV. (1854), 82. Demoralization that unknits the bonds of obligation.
† c. To ungird (oneself). Obs.–1
a. 1500. in Three 15th Cent. Chron. (Camden), 111. Ther he shall unknyte hym, and his swerde … shall offer to God and to Holy Churche moste devowtly.
d. To disjoint, disunite; to unclasp. rare.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, s.v. Desnouer, To vnknitte a bone, to put out of ioynte.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 58. Thee ioyncturs vnknit, with an horribil hurring Pat fals thee turret.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., I. 15. Rain … loosens and unknits all the Nerves of the Building.
1856. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., III. IV. xviii. Concl. 339. If again petty jealousies … prevail to unknit their hands from the armoured grasp.
e. To smooth out. rare–1.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. ii. 136. Fie, fie, vnknit that threatning vnkinde brow.
2. fig. a. To disperse, dissolve, undo, destroy; to relax or weaken. Also absol.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 213. So god … suffred to be solde to see þe sorwe of deyinge, The which vnknitteth al kare & comsynge is of reste.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 2564. Al-thogh a kyng haue habundance of myght In his land, at his lust knytte & vnknytte.
a. 1500. Ragman Roll, 151, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 76. Weyr be unknytte, al this worldes rychesse Ne myghte noghte yow two knyttyn in feir.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, 3. Logike is bound … to knit true arguments and unknit false.
1592. Lyly, Gallathea, III. i. I feele my thoughts vnknit.
1642. Chas. I., Lett. to both Ho. Parl., 7. Ambitious spirits, that may disjoynt and unknit his Majesty and this House.
1655. Vaughan, Silex Scint., Match, ii. Shut out all distractions That may unknit My heart.
c. 1837. Wordsw., ‘Ah why,’ 5. Where for ages they have lain … With life’s best sinews more and more unknit.
b. To separate, sever, detach.
1388. Wyclif, Job vi. 17. Thei schulen be vnknyt fro her place.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf., I. xii. (MS. Bodl. 592). Þis spirit wole vnknytte and vndo ih’u fro þe soule: & þerfore it is not of god.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1658. Þanne is to hem an helle hire mariage, Þanne þei desyren for to be vnknyt.
3. intr. To become unknit, in various senses.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep. (1577), 187. It is a sore that neuer openeth, and a bonde that neuer vnknitteth.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., v. F 3 b. Then may you bid them farewel: for presentlie they begin to vnknit, and to be gone.
1677. Gov. Venice, 6. The private Magistrates are as it were the Nerves and Bones…; and the Council of Ten are the ligaments, hindring the parts from unknitting.
1748. Thomson, Cast. Indol., I. xxiii. For whomsoe’er the villain takes in hand, Their joints unknit, their sinews melt apace.
1870. Pall Mall G., 10 Dec., 12. The lady’s eyebrows unknit, and wintry smiles break from the grey eyes.
Hence Unknitting vbl. sb.
1382. Wyclif, Nahum ii. 10. Herte feylynge, and vnknytynge of smale knees.
1545. Act 37 Hen. VIII., c. 21 § 2. Without any dissolucion, undoinge, unknittinge, or repeale of them.
1611. Cotgr., Desnouement, an vntying, vnknitting, vnbinding (of knots).
