[UN-2 3. Cf. OE. (rare) unwindan, onwindan, = (M)Du. ontwinden, OS. antwindan, OHG. intwindan (MHG. and G. ent-), to untwist, disentangle.]
1. trans. To wind off, move back, or detach (a wrapping, covering, bandage, etc.); to undo the folds or convolutions of (thread, tape, or the like); to untwine, untwist.
c. 1325. Lai le Freine, 189. Therto he yede and it [sc. a furred skin] vnwond, And the … child therin he fond.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 368. On-wyndyn, or on-twynyn…, detorqueo.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 43 b/2. To wind, and agayne vnwinde the same [bandages].
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 101. Gracious Lord, Stand for your owne, vnwind your bloody Flagge.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xviii. § 8. Skaynes or Bottomes of thread … bee vnwinded at large, when they come to be vsed.
1713. Blackmore, Creation, VI. 294. Engendering heats these one by one unbind, Stretch their small tubes, and hamper’d nerves unwind.
1759. in Phil. Trans., LI. 55. The pod [= cocoon] could not be easily unwinded.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, V. lvii. She did unwind Her veil.
1818. Keats, Endym., II. 851. The fair visitant at last unwound Her gentle limbs, and left the youth asleep.
1839. Dickens, Nickleby, xxix. ‘Pooh! pooh!’ said Mr. Folair, unwinding his comforter.
refl. 1740. R. Brookes, Art Angling, 10. As soon as the Pike takes the Bait,… the Line unwinds itself off the Trimmer.
1831. Scott, Ct. Rob., xvi. A skein of fine silk … unwinding itself as it descended.
b. fig. and in fig. context.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, III. ix. (Skeat), l. 77. In this boke be many privy thinges wimpled and folde; unneth shul leude men the plites unwinde.
1482. Caxton, Polychron., 5 b. My wytte is full lytil to vnwynde the wrappynges of so wonderful werkes.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xx. That it should have neded a stronger vertue then his, to have unwound so deeply an entred vice.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., III. ii. 51. As you vnwinde her loue from him; Least it should rauell.
a. 1613. Overbury, Remedy of Love, 8. I mean not to blot out what I have taught, Nor to unwinde the web that I have wrought.
c. 1620. Z. Boyd, Zion’s Flowers (1855), Introd. 13. Thou me unwind that knotty snarled clue.
1669. Glanvill, Catholic Charity, 52. He … hath many prejudices…; and these are not to be torn off all at once, but softly, and by degrees to be unwound.
1820. Shelley, Witch Atl., lxx. And she unwound the woven imagery Of second childhood’s swaddling bands.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., viii. Unwinding the endless tapestry of time.
1908. S. E. White, Riverman, xlvi. There’s an awful lot of red-tape to unwind, as there always is in such cases.
refl. 1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharon., III. ii. 315. Here his harsh thoughts unwound Themselves in pleasure.
absol. 1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 1. If my new thoughts have added to your bottom, I know you will unwinde gently for feare of ravelling.
c. To cause to uncoil; to free from a coiled state.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. 53. These Wormes they vnwinde with a Pinne and come out daintily.
1638. N. Whiting, Albino & Bellama, Author to Bk. 48. Nor beg those niggards’ eyes, who grudge to see A watch unwinded in perusing thee.
1810. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 4), XX. 532/1. It is indeed difficult to determine the exact extent of the spiral vessels…, for it is by unwinding them alone that they can be known.
1834–6. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 641/2. At this instant the spring … is now unwound again.
fig. a. 1613. Overbury, Characters, Melancholy Man. His imagination … keeps his mind in a continuall motion, as the poise the clocke: he winds up his thoughts often, and as often unwinds them.
2. To roll, twist, or turn back the wrapping, bandaging, or covering of (a body, etc.); to unwrap. Also, to untwine thread from (a bobbin); to free (a person) from bonds, etc.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. viii. 27. Then, turning backe vnto that captiue thrall, Who all this while stood … bound,… He from those bands weend him to haue vnwound.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 20 b/2. He then vnwyndeth his needle, and openeth the lippes of the wounde.
1608. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. Vocation, 203. Can I thus (alas!) Rudely vnwinde me from the kinde embrace Of their deer arms.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 507/2. To unwind a bobbin so that the thread hanging from it is to be longer.
1902. Munsey’s Mag., XXVI. 585/1. In he [sc. a doctor] came,… and unwound and wound me again.
fig. and in fig. context.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., II. iv. I would roule my selfe for this day, in troth, they should not vnwind mee.
1697. Congreve, Mourn. Bride, II. ix. The conqueror is mine! In chains unseen I hold him by the heart, And can unwind or strain him as I please.
† b. refl. To free, disengage, or extricate (oneself) from an entanglement, difficulty, etc. Obs.
Chiefly employed in figurative contexts.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., II. 100. Out of these snares we shall easily vnwinde our selues, if we well consider [etc.].
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. iv. § 2. To vnwinde themselues where the snares of glosing speech doe lye to intangle them.
1601. [? Marston], Pasquil & Kath. (1878), II. 370. Vnwinde thy selfe from out the Labyrinth Of gaping wonder.
1656. W. Montague, Accompl. Wom., 63. Without the thrid that she gave, how could he [sc. Theseus] ever have unwinded himself out of those Mazes?
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 41. The Pythagoreans taught their disciples … that they must unwind themselves even from their very Bodies, if they would be good Philosophers.
1692. Dryden, Don Sebastian, V. i. You could unwind your self from all these dangers.
1701. Norris, Ideal World, I. vi. 412. To unwind ourselves from this intanglement.
3. intr. To undergo uncoiling or unwinding; to become free from a convoluted state. Also fig. and transf.
1656. T. Watson, One Thing Necess., 19. He is like a watch, when he hath been wound up towards heaven, he doth quickly unwinde to earth, and sinne again.
1681. J. Scott, Chr. Life, I. iv. 385. Our holy Fervours will be very apt to cool, our good Purposes to slacken and unwind.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 223. Put the Bottoms into clean scalding Water, and … then will they easily unwind.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. cxxiii. Who loves, raves—’t is youth’s frenzy—but the cure Is bitterer still, as charm by charm unwinds Which robed our idols.
1834–6. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 635/1. As the spring unwinds and acts with less power.
1839. Bailey, Festus, 334. Would I might die outright! And slip the coil without waiting it unwind.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Elsie V., x. She danced with a kind of passionate fierceness,… her round arms wreathing and unwinding.
4. trans. To open up, to trace or retrace to an issue, outlet, or end. Also in fig. context.
1716. Gay, Trivia, II. 86. Still the wandring passes forc’d his stay, Till Ariadne’s clue unwinds the way.
1744. Young, Nt. Th., VI. 162. How shall the blessed day of our discharge Unwind, at once, the labyrinths of fate.
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, IV. Slawkenb. Tale. The fifth act … terminates in unwinding the labyrinth and bringing the hero … to a state of rest.
1864. Bryant, Little People of Snow, 213. A cloud of twittering swallows … turn and wheel again, Unwinding their swift track.
fig. 1821. Bryant, Ages, viii. He whose eye Unwinds the eternal dances of the sky.
Hence Unwinding vbl. sb.
Also, in recent use (1915), unwinder.
1648. Hexham, II. Een ontdraeyinge,… an Vnwinding.
1708. Watts, Horæ Lyricæ (1727), 161. The dull unwinding of Life’s tedious Thread.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 13. The solution of all knots, and unwinding of all intricacies.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 515. The balance, having now all the velocity it would acquire from the unwinding the spring.
1866. Mrs. Ritchie, Village on Cliff, xiv. The whole thing seemed running through her head like the unwinding of a skein.
1895. Model Steam Engine, 23. The unwinding of a reel of cotton.
attrib. 1889. Sleeman, Torpedoes (ed. 2), 235. The torpedo is launched, and the engine started which is to work the unwinding reels or drums.
1915. Barry Pain, Futurist Fifteen, 75. The aim of the Unwinder is to unwind his string until he reaches the circumference.
