unwrinkle

present singular third person unwrinkles · participle present unwrinkling · participle past unwrinkled · past unwrinkled

1. transitiveTo remove wrinkles from.

   The job was done before Silver could unwrinkle the grimace on his face.

   2000, Gary Soto, Nickel and Dime, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Part 2, p. 85

   1 more example

   He and she sat side by side like two wax people while the waiter stretched across to unwrinkle the tablecloth and straighten the knives.

   1935, Elizabeth Bowen, The House in Paris, New York: Vintage, published 1957, Part Two, p. 140

   Synonyms: flatten out, smooth

2. intransitiveTo stop being wrinkly; to become flat or smooth.

   In a rain barrel, water unwrinkles to glass; a lime tree’s daughter there studies her face.

   1987, Derek Walcott, “Cul de Sac Valley”, in The Arkansas Testament, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 11

   2 more examples

   His head protruded out of his torn collar much as the head of the tortoise protrudes from its shell, the throat unwrinkling, the eyes like beads, or pips of jet.

   1959, Mervyn Peake, chapter 66, in Titus Alone, New York: Ballantine, published 1968, page 179

   Emma went through the closet and removed the black gabardine jacket she had hung up to unwrinkle.

   1996, Charles Mathes, chapter 15, in The Girl Who Remembered Snow, New York: St. Martin’s Press, page 212