unclew

present singular third person unclews · participle present unclewing · participle past unclewed · past unclewed

1. alsoarchaicfigurativelytransitiveTo unwind, unfold, unravel or untie.

   unclewing ropes and disentangling knots

   1830, George Payne Rainsford James, Darnley: Or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold

   2 more examples

   unclewing the inmost mysteries of the bed-chamber

   1877, Arthur Evans, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection, August and September 1875

   unclew the topmost canvas, the skysails, and the brig's royals

   1931, Francis van Wyck Mason, Captain Judas

2. archaicfigurativelytransitiveTo undo; to ruin.

   If I should pay you for't as 'tis extoll'd, It would unclew me quite

   c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]