unˈtwine, v.
[un-2 3. Cf. WFris. ont-, un-twine, Du. onttwijnen.]
1. trans. To untwist; to undo by untwisting or disentangling. Freq. in fig. context.
| c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 1252 To shewen..How the threde shal be vntwyned Of hir lyf. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 43 Or than deth the threed untwyne Of oure fatal web. 1551 T. Wilson Logike B ij b, Knitting together true Argumentes, and vntwining all knotty Subtiltees. 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. Hist. Irel. 14/1 This knotte (saith our Authour) might be vntwyned with more facilitie thus. 1601 Campion Bk. of Ayres ii. ix. 6 The sprites..Affect for pastime to vn⁓twine her tressed haire. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. iii. (1673) 24 Idleness, Fulness, and Lust, they are a three-fold cord, twisted by the devil, and hardly untwined and severed by any man. a 1687 Waller Thyrsis, Galatea 41 Since the Sisters did so soon untwine So fair a thread, I'll strive to piece the line. 1793 Burns ‘O Poortith cauld’ i, O why should Fate sic pleasure have, Life's dearest bands untwining? 1813 Scott Rokeby iii. xxii, On his sad brow nor mirth nor wine Could e'er one wrinkled knot untwine. 1847 J. Martineau Chr. Life 347 Philosophy..endeavours to untwine the finished web of thought. |
b. fig. To dissolve, undo, destroy.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 757 ‘What for twenty,’ quoth þe tolke, ‘vntwynez þou hem þenne?’ a 1470 Harding Chron. lxxiii. v, With hoost full great of Britons..On Douglas water the Saxons he did vntwine. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 1445 This goodly flowre with stormis was vntwynde. a 1529 ― P. Sparowe 282 O cat.., The fynde was in thy mynde Whan thou my byrde untwynde. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 274 b, So did also the frendshyp..not a litle greue you and full ofte haue assayed that the same might be vntwyned. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits 322 At the instant when he beginneth to be shaped, he likewise beginneth to be vn⁓twined. 1625 Quarles Sion's Sonn. ix. 1 The world cannot vntwine The joyfull vnion of His heart, and Mine. 1718 Pope Iliad xvi. 950 There ends thy glory! there the fates untwine The last, black remnant of so bright a line. |
2. To detach, remove, release, extract, by untwisting. Also fig.
| a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 75 Whom all the Siren songes of Italie could neuer vntwyne from the maste of Gods word. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 108 When death hath vntwined my soule from carcas his holding. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xx. cxxx, His strong arme..She would haue thrust away, loos'd, and vntwin'd. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 59 Let the stinking-Elder (Greefe) vntwine His perishing roote with the encreasing Vine. 1799 Sheridan Pizarro i. i, He sued to..untwine the sword from my determined grasp. 1841 Browning Pippa Passes Introd. 199 Untwine me from the mass Of deeds which make up life. 1846 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. II. 46/2 Some privy councillor..come to untwine and wheedle your secrets out of you. |
3. intr. To become untwisted or undone.
| 1592 Arden of Feversham iv. iv. 80 What, so familiare?.. Vntwyne those armes. Ales. I, with a sugred kisse let them vntwine. 1644 Milton Divorce (ed. 2) vi. 14 For strait..his silk'n breades untwine, and slip their knots. 1871 B. Taylor Faust II. iii. 266 Soon shall, I fear me, The sweet bond untwine! |
Hence unˈtwining vbl. n.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. Hist. Irel. 1 b, And that our Irishe hystorie..yeeldeth al these commodities, I trust the indifferent reader, vpon the vntwyning thereof, will not denie. 1626 Bacon Sylva §494 Which is caused by the un⁓twining of the Beard by the Moisture. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. iii. 177 Our thread by often untwining broke it self. |