unˈclench, v.
[un-2 3. Cf. unclinch v.]
1. trans. To undo the clenching of (bars, etc.).
| 1340–70 Alisaunder 1172 Hee unclosed þe caue, unclainte þe barres. 1775 Ash, Unclench,..to raise the point of a bended nail. 1825 [see unclenching vbl. n.]. |
2. To relax or open (the clenched hand, a grip or clutch, etc.).
| [1775 Ash.] 1816 Monthly Mag. XLI. 143 Nor dares unclench the hand of her relief. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. x. 600 Revenge..would pluck pang forth, but unclench No gripe in the act, let fall no money-piece. 1888 ‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. vii, So he stood there clenching and unclenching his hands,..the very picture of misery. |
| fig. 1839 Bailey Festus, L'Envoi 361 God was with him; and bade old Time, to the youth, Unclench his heart. |
b. To cause to relax; to force open.
| 1793 Minstrel III. 70, I flew on the wretch who held him, unclenched his grasping hand from the throat of my darling. 1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxxi, ‘We have time for no more of this,’ cried the man, unclenching her hands, and throwing her roughly off. 1888 G. E. Post in Centen. Conf. Missions I. 323 A grasp of iron which the crusaders could not unclench. |
c. refl. and absol. Of the hand: To relax from a clenched state.
| [1755 Johnson.] 1900 Daily News 11 Oct. 3/1 The nervous hand, clenching and unclenching as his passions swayed him. 1901 E. L. Voynich Jack Raymond 87 He let his hand fall by his side, and unclench itself slowly. |
3. trans. To loosen from a grasp or hold.
| 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. (1865) 2 Her lessons..have been unclenched by sheer labour from the granite hand of nature. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxv. 9 Unglue the nails adroit to steal, unclench the spoil. |
Hence
unˈclenching vbl. n.| [1775 Ash.] 1825 Scott Betrothed Concl., Hasten thy unclenching and undoing of rivets. |