Dictionary

unreeve en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English *unreven (attested only in past participle unrevyn) equivalent to un- + reeve.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To withdraw or take out, as for example a rope from a block.
   • He could not only splice a broken "fall," and repair the sheaves and friction-rollers in a hoisting-block, but whenever the rigging got tangled aloft he could spring up the derrick like a cat and unreeve the rope in an instant. 1896, F. Hopkinson Smith, Tom Grogan:
   • But he carried all sail till the rotten main-sheet parted at the boom, and when he came up in the wind to lower the sail the main throat halyard refused to unreeve. 1909, A. W. Dimock, Dick in the Everglades:

Forms

Relateds

unreave