Dictionary

unspell en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ʌnˈspɛl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From un- + spell.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To break the power of (a spell); to release (a person) from the influence of a spell; to disenchant.
   • If Burd Ellen had gone “widishins" round the church, she would, I think, have used the best homoeopathic specific against the Elf-King's power; for "to go widishins" was the chief element in elfin practices, and if mortals wished to resist or unspell elf-craft, they, too, had "to go widershins," or they had to repeat the Paternoster backwards, which came to the same thing, or do something else contrariwise. 1891 January 3, I. Gollancz, “Widishins”, in The Academy, London, page 14, column 3:
   • Such practices as Theſe, too groſs to lye / Long unobſerv'd by each diſcerning Eye, / The more judicious Iſraelites Unſpell'd, / Though ſtill the Charm the giddy Rabble held, […] 1682, [Nahum Tate; John Dryden], The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 5:

Forms