[f. as prec.] The action of disentangling, etc.
1607. Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 32. When … the bottome of my patrimony came within 200 pound of vnraueling.
1668. Dryden, Dram. Poesy, Ess. (Ker), I. 45. The Catastrophe, which … the French [call] le denouement, and we the discovery or unravelling of the plot.
1713. Guardian, No. 36. Are not … all their pompous distinctions only so many unravellings of double meanings?
1742. West, Lett., in Gray’s Poems (1775), 142. No unravelling of your web, dear Sir! only pursue it a little further.
1801. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., IV. 455. A mystery, the unravelling of which … engaged all my attention.
1868. Tyndall, Fragm. Sci. (1871), 102. The mental exercise … involved in the unravelling of a language.
