English

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Etymology

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un- +‎ swirl

Verb

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unswirl (third-person singular simple present unswirls, present participle unswirling, simple past and past participle unswirled)

  1. (transitive) To resolve or restraighten (something previously swirled).
    • 2002, Cecil M. Colwin, Breakthrough Swimming:
      The overlapping arm action of the crawl stroke allows a swimmer to feel the oncoming flow of water advance along the entry arm at the same time as the opposite arm is unswirling the flow from the hand and forearm at the finish of its stroke.
    • 2007 October 20, Seth Mydans, “Thai Police Arrest Pedophile Suspect”, in New York Times[1]:
      On Friday, the Thai police said he was under arrest and charged as a pedophile after computer experts had unswirled the digitally altered face in a virtuoso act of electronic decoding.