unclew

English

Etymology

un- +‎ clew

Verb

unclew (third-person singular simple present unclews, present participle unclewing, simple past and past participle unclewed)

1. (archaic, transitive, also figurative) To unwind, unfold, unravel or untie.
   • 1830, George Payne Rainsford James, Darnley: Or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold:

     unclewing ropes and disentangling knots

   • 1877, Arthur Evans, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection, August and September 1875:

     unclewing the inmost mysteries of the bed-chamber

   • 1931, Francis van Wyck Mason, Captain Judas:

     unclew the topmost canvas, the skysails, and the brig's royals

2. (archaic, transitive, figuratively) To undo; to ruin.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     If I should pay you for't as 'tis extoll'd,
     It would unclew me quite

References

• “unclew”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.