Meanings
plural unwinders
- A device that unwinds.
- colloquialAn alcoholic drink taken as a relaxant.
2010, William Campbell, Apotheosis, Glyd-Evans Press, p. 137, In contrast to the overwhelming sweetness, the cool drink is bitter like coffee, but with a strong bite of alcohol. One sip and I hand it back. Not the time for that sort of unwinder.
1 more example
It seemed to them the ideal place for those confidential mid-morning potations and games of pool for which the Foreign Office had invented the phrase “elevenses”, after the hour of the morning when one feels one most needs a short swift drink, or a long “unwinder”, to use slang.
1982, Lawrence Durrell, chapter 5, in Constance, New York: Viking, page 114
Origin
Cite this entry
unwinder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unwinder
“unwinder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unwinder. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unwinder,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unwinder.
Source: unwinder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.