v. [UN-2 3. Cf. Du. ontrafelen, † ontravelen.]
1. trans. To take out of a ravelled, tangled, or intertwined condition; to disentangle; also, to pull down, to undo (a woven fabric).
Freq. in fig. context: see quots. under (a).
(a) 1603. Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, Wks. (Grosart), I. 131. She … vnraueld the bottome of her frailetie at length.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, IV. i. 166. Frederick … unravelled the fair web of John Brens victory, even to the very hemme thereof.
1709. Swift, Tritical Ess., Wks. 1755, II. I. 144. We shall be forced to … unravel in the night what we spun in the day.
1792. Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 3. The web has been too long weaving to be unravelled in an instant.
1856. Kingsley, in N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 78. To unravel patiently the tangled web of good and evil.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 81. I, link by link, unravelled any tangle of the chain.
(b) 1688. Boyle, Final Causes Nat. Things, IV. 172. Those curious oval prisons in which they [sc. silkworms] enclose themselves, and which are unreveled into silk.
1727. [Dorrington], Philip Quarll (1816), 54. He was obliged to unravel the sail.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 352. As often happens in trying to unravel an entangled thread, while they loosen the knot in one place they draw it tighter in another.
1871. A. Meadows, Man. Midwifery (ed. 2), 46. So intimate is the union in later months, that it is impossible to unravel the meshes.
1883. Martin & Moale, Vertebr. Dissect., 143. Unravel the small intestine, cutting it away from the mesentery.
transf. 1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. i. 227. By prisms we can unravel the white light into pure red, orange, yellow [etc.].
† 2. fig. To reverse, undo, annul. Obs.
1644–7. Cleveland, Char. Lond. Diurn., 2. It differs … as a black Witch doth from a white one, whose office is to unravell her inchantments.
1667. Dryden & Davenant, Tempest, IV. iv. All my designs Are ruin’d and unravell’d by this blow.
1673. Lady’s Call., I. iv. § 10. I wish they would … unravel that injurious mirth by a penitential sadness.
1710. Palmer, Proverbs, 382. One season let slip, breaks the series of our conduct, unravels the order of life.
1762. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1765), I. 57. Though at last He wofully unravelled most of the pursuits of his early age.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 248. After the land had descended to his issue, they would not unravel the matter again, and suffer his estate to be shaken.
3. To free from intricacy or obscurity; to make plain or obvious; to reveal or disclose.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Ductor, I. iv. rule ii. § 22. A religion that would … unravel all the intrigues of hearts.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 529. Simple Disjunct Proportions have at large … been unravelled in the foregoing Part.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 178, ¶ 1. With these … Passages … [he] was breaking his Brains Day and Night to … unravel their Sense.
1789. Belsham, Ess., II. xxxii. 207. Without attempting to unravel all the intricacies of scholastic theology.
1827. Lytton, Falkland, I. 23. I unravelled the intricacies which knit servility with arrogance.
1862. Burton, Bk. Hunter, 377. To unravel the mystery of these primitive sculptures.
1884. A. R. Pennington, Wiclif, vi. 188. Unravelling difficult questions of theology.
refl. 1791. Paine, Rights of Man, 108. In a few days … the plot unravelled itself.
1863. Stanley, Jew. Ch., I. xiii. 295. As the story unravels itself.
4. intr. To come undone; to become unknit or disentangled. Freq. fig.
1650. T. Vaughan, Anthroposophia, 55. When the Harmony is broken…, the vitall Twist … Disbands and unravells.
1656. T. Watson, One Thing Necessary, 53. Our life doth unravell apace.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., 566. As if to leave the Church of Rome were at last to unravel into a mere canting Paganism.
1744. Young, Nt. Th., VI. 158. In an eternity, what scenes shall strike!… What webs of wonder shall unravel, there!
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 489. My vehicle did not begin to unravel like a torn stocking.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 533. The stuff … increases in thickness…, and will not unravel when it is cut.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. i. 23. As the burning threads Of woven cloud unravel in pale air.
Hence Unravelled ppl. a.
1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharon., IV. v. 193. Whose serious souls are busied to compose Unravelled thoughts into a method.
a. 1720. J. Hughes, Ode to Creator, ix. Proceed my muse! Time’s wasting thread pursue, And see at last the unravel’d clue.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., III. 41. ’Tis mine the unravell’d prospect to display.
1814. Byron, Lara, I. xvi. Vain thought! that hour of ne’er unravell’d gloom Came not again.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 168. The genuine Skye [terrier],… like an unravelled ball of worsted.
