unˈtie, v.
[OE. unt{iacu}ᵹan (un-2 3, 7).]
1. trans. To release, set free, detach, by undoing a cord or similar fastening.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 2 Þonne sona finde ᵹyt ane assene ᵹetiᵹᵹede..: untiᵹeað hiᵹ, and lædað to me. Ibid. Mark xi. 5 Hwæt do ᵹyt þone folan untiᵹende? 13.. K. Alis. 784 (Laud MS.), He it [sc. Bucephalus] vntyed & lete gon. 1388 Wyclif Mark xi. 5 Thei..founden a colt tied bifor the ȝate,..and thei vntieden hym. 1530 Palsgr. 768/2, I untey,..je deslie. Untey my hosen. 1581 A. Hall Iliad viii. 147 His goodly steedes the Marine god..vnties. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xci. ii, From snare..He shall thee sure unty. 1639 T. de la Grey Expert Farrier 236 Untye him, and give him meat. 1659 Hammond On Ps. lx. 6 As when the master reaches out his shooe to his meanest servant, to be untyed and taken off by him. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 494 They said,..if they untied her [sc. a cow], they should see which Way she went. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 208, I climbed my vessel's lofty side; My train obeyed me, and the ship unty'd. 1794 Wordsw. Guilt & Sorrow lxiv, They..busily..untie Her garments. 1847 Emerson Daemonic Love 148 Therefore comes an hour from Jove Which his ruthless will defies, And the dogs of Fate unties. |
| absol. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 193 The unlearned..use to think it a matter of greater strength..to teare asunder, than to unty. |
b. To free from a confining or encircling cord, bond, etc.
| c 1450 Cov. Myst. (1922) 224 Goo forthe,..and lazare ȝe vntey, And all his bondys losyth hem asundyr. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon ci. 333 Huon came to y⊇ fote of y⊇ ladder, where as he founde Gerames as then not vntyed. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 21, I prethee sister Kate, vntie my hands. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxii. ¶7 He unties all the Pages of that Quarter. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery ii. 38 Untye your Cucumbers, but take care the Meat don't come out. 1781 Cowper Charity 471 With slow deliberation he unties His glitt'ring purse. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell 3rd vi. vii, All these Reviews the Devil made Up in a parcel... Peter..Untied them—read them. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn lv, The executioner has untied your hands. |
c. In various
fig. uses.
| 13.. Cast. Love (H.) 1603 Hevyn and erthe shull byn aleyde, And the foure elementes shull be unteyede. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 21 If thou be forto wyte In eny point..Wherof thi wittes ben unteid. 1565 Cooper, Linguam resoluere,..to vntie his tongue. 1586 Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 87 Before this time the like breach..was neuer seene betweene vs: but what (mischiefe) shal I now terme it..that..hath in this vilde sort, giuen meanes to vntie vs. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 52 Though you vntye the Windes, and let them fight Against the Churches. a 1654 Selden Table-T. (Arb.) 66, I cannot bind my self, for I may untye my self again. 1655 Earl of Orrery Parthen. i. vi. 131, I will vntye my Soule from that Cley which invirons it. a 1845 Wordsw. Eccl. Sonn., Crusaders 10 When Heaven unties Her inmost,..tenderest harmonies. 1847 Disraeli Tancred iv. iv, We shall be at Hebron before they untie their eyelids. |
2. To undo, unfasten (a cord, knot, etc.); also
transf. to relax (a hold).
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 42 He forst him to vnty One of his grasping feete. 1602 2nd Pt. Return Parnass. iii. iv. 1378 If he will not vnty the purse stringes of his liberality. 1639 J. Taylor Summers Trav. (Hindley, III) 17 You might have untied it [sc. a halter], that it might have serv'd another time. a 1718 Prior Love Disarmed 39 The Chain I'll in Return unty; And freely Thou again shalt fly. 1791 Cowper Odyssey viii. 339 A snare Of bands indissoluble, by no art To be untied. 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne iii, The old squire of Greshamsbury, whose shoe ribbons Dr. Fillgrave would not have objected to untie. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate i, She untied and removed her veil. |
| fig. 1581 G. Elliot in Arber Garner VIII. 208 Even then (by God's great goodness..) all their..devilish devices and practises were so broken and untied in me that [etc.]. |
b. fig. To solve or clear away (a difficulty). Freq. with
knot in
fig. sense (
cf. knot n.1 10).
| (a) a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. xiii, The love of him commaundid him to preserve his life: which knot might well be cut, but untied it could not be. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. ii. 42 O time, thou must vntangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me t'vnty. 1643 R. Baker Chron., Stephen 65 A Gordian knot, which no Writer helpes me to unty. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §32 He will endeavour to untie knots as well as tie them. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Sat. ii. v. 56, I know the Doubles of the mazy Laws, Unty their Knots, and plead with vast Applause. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy iv. vii, That is cutting the knot, said my father, instead of untying it. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 714 We cannot cut the knot: we must, therefore, take time to untie it. 1889 S. Walpole Life Ld. J. Russell II. 374 The new King tried to cut instead of untying the Gordian knot. |
| (b) 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. iv. 149 'Tis still a Dreame..Or senselesse speaking, or a speaking such As sense cannot vntye. 1649 Davenant Love & Hon. iv. iv. 80 We must to Delphos sure t'untie these doubts..with an oracle. 1654 Jer. Taylor Real Pres. 65 The whole party wanders in eternal intricacies, and inextricable riddles; which..themselves cannot untie. |
c. fig. To dissolve (a bond,
esp. of union).
| (a) 1634 B. Jonson Love's Welcome Wks. (1641) 282 A true-love Knot will hardly be unti'd. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvii. 385 First, the Power of the Popes was dissolved... And so was untyed the first knot. 1671 R. MacWard True Non-conf. 166 Unless the error be of greater importance,..it ought not to unty the bond of the unity of the Catholick Church. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 685 Profusion..unties the knot Of union. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. vi. ii, Land of my sires! what mortal hand Can e'er untie the filial band, That knits me to thy rugged strand! 1895 Daily News 15 Nov. 7/3 If a husband got tired of his wife,..the State winked at a collusive suit by which the knot was untied. |
| (b) 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 111 The amitie that wisedome knits, not folly may easily vntie. 1610 ― Temp. v. i. 253 Come hither Spirit, Set Caliban and his companions free: Vntye the Spell. a 1683 Sidney Disc. Govt. iii. §15 (1698) 316 But if these obligations were untied, we may easily guess [etc.]. |
3. intr. To become loosened or untied.
| 1590 Tarlton's Newes Purgat. 30 He threwe his armes about him with such violence, that his wide sleeue vntyed. 1651 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year ii. v. 59 Then their resolution unties like the cords of vanity or the gossamere against the violence of the Northen winde. Ibid. ii. xxiii. 290 Their promises are but fair language,..and disband and unty like the air that beat upon their teeth, when [etc.]. |
Hence
unˈtied ppl. a.1| 1565 Cooper s.v. Recinctus, Zona recincta, a girdle vntied. 1619 Fletcher Knt. Malta v. i, I am..a vessel crack'd, A Zone unti'd. 1891 T. Hardy Tess xlvii, She..had to supply the man with untied sheaves. |