▪ I. † ˈravelled, a.
Obs. (See ravel bread.)
| 1577 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 154 The raueled is a kind of cheat bread also, but it reteineth more of the grosse, and less of the poore substance of the wheat. The raueled cheat..is generallie so made [etc.]. 1613 Wither Abuses ii. i, For bread, they can compare with Lord and Knight. They have both raveld manchet browne and white. [1830 James Darnley i. ix. 200 His pressed curds, his raveled bread, and his leathern bottle full of thin beer.] |
▪ II. ravelled, ppl. a.
(ˈræv(ə)ld)
[f. ravel v.1]
1. Tangled, confused, involved. (lit. and fig.)
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. ii. 37 Sleepe that knits up the rauel'd Sleeue of Care. 1642 Rogers Naaman 336 How to picke out an end out of the ravelled skeine. 1666 Baxter Call to Unconverted 204 Because our ravelled wits cannot see them right together. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. i, Ye..have sae kind Redd up my ravel'd doubts, and clear'd my mind. 1835 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1852) 519 The difficult and ravelled problems touching the various collegiate foundations. 1883 A. S. Swan Aldersyde ii. x, A higher hand holds the ravelled skein of life. |
b. Sc. a ravelled hasp: An intricate or involved matter.
| 1637 Fleming in A. Whyte Rutherford (1894) xxiii. 201 My inward life is a ravelled hesp and I need guidance and direction. 1720 Pennecuik Helicon (ed. 2) 26 Providence seems a ravel'd Hasp. 1822 Scott Pirate v, Speak her fair and canny, or we will have a ravelled hasp on the yarn-windles. |
† 2. Frayed out; with frayed edges; ragged. Also transf. Obs.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 47 The raueld buttonholes of her bleare eyes. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv, A ravell'd wound distain'd her purer brest. |