unthread

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder.

Proto-Germanic *anda-

Proto-West Germanic *anda-

Old English and-

Old English on-

Middle English on-

English un-

English thread

English unthread

From un- + thread.

Verb

unthread (third-person singular simple present unthreads, present participle unthreading, simple past and past participle unthreaded)

1. (transitive) To draw or remove a thread from.
   • 1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXVII, page 67:

     Its eyes, though wild, were still all dewy bright / With love, and kept all phantom fear aloof / From the poor girl by magic of their light, / The while it did unthread the horrid woof / Of the late darken'd time,— […]

   • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Talisman, page 62:

     "Good and evil! good and evil!" thought he; "ye are mingled inextricably in the web of our being; and who may unthread the darker yarn?"

2. (transitive) To loosen the connections of.
3. (transitive) To make one's way through.

Translations

to draw or remove a thread from

• Bulgarian: изнизвам (iznizvam)
• Italian: sfilare (it), sfilarsi

Anagrams

• headturn