Dictionary

unclew en · VERB

Etymology

From un- + clew.

Meanings

1. (also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) To unwind, unfold, unravel or untie.
   • unclewing the inmost mysteries of the bed-chamber 1877, Arthur Evans, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection, August and September 1875:
   • unclew the topmost canvas, the skysails, and the brig's royals 1931, Francis van Wyck Mason, Captain Judas:
   • unclewing ropes and disentangling knots 1830, George Payne Rainsford James, Darnley: Or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold:
2. (archaic, figuratively, transitive) To undo; to ruin.
   • If I should pay you for't as 'tis extoll'd, It would unclew me quite c. 1605–1608 (date written), 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]:

Forms