unclew
English edit
Etymology edit
Verb edit
unclew (third-person singular simple present unclews, present participle unclewing, simple past and past participle unclewed)
- (transitive) To unwind, unfold, or untie.
- (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
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “unclew”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)