unbend

present singular third person unbends · participle present unbending · participle past unbent · past unbent · archaic participle past unbended · archaic past unbended

1. To remove a bend so as to make, or allow to become, straight.

   to unbend a bow

   1 more example

   He leant tensely against the corridor wall and frowned like a man trying to unbend a corkscrew by telekinesis.

   1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 61

2. To release (a load) from a strain or from exertion; to set at ease for a time; to relax.

   to unbend the mind from study or care

   1 more example

   You do unbend your noble strength.

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

3. nauticalTo unfasten sails from the spars or stays to which are attached for use.
4. To cast loose or untie

   Unbend the rope.

5. To cease to be bent; to become straight.
6. To relax in exertion, attention, severity, or the like

   He spent the afternoon shaping a swagger-stick from the branch of jarrah and talking with Miss La Rue, who had sufficiently unbent toward him to notice his existence.

   1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC

7. archaicto enjoy oneself; to become affable and free from formality