v. [UN-2 3.]
1. trans. To unwind from a reel or skein.
Chiefly fig. Quot. 1605 is echoed by several later writers, as in quot. 1652.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., X. 122. I Beseech yee of Eurydicee vnreele the destinye.
1598. Florio, Sgominare,… to vnreele yarne.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. III. Law, 1377. Un-winde the bottom of old Times again, Of Ages past un-reel the snarled skain.
1606. J. Raynolds, Dolarney’s Prim. (1880), 77. Ye fates vnreele my lou’s sad destinie.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., XII. lxxxvi. Unwinde Times ball again, Unreel through ages its snarl’d skain.
1889. Engineer, 15 Nov., 413. A measured mile course was laid off by unreeling from an anchored stake buoy one mile of fine wire.
2. intr. To become unwound.
1886. Tribune Bk. Sports 163 (Cent.). The line will unreel faster than it is needed.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 13 Jan., 2/1. They shall mark the Empire’s line unreel From Cairo to the Cape.
