| 释义 |
▪ I. unˈtwist, n.
[un-2 3, 8.]
A reversive twist.
1889Telegr. Jrnl. 26 April 467/2 Each coil of the cable..as it comes out receives a twist in the opposite direction, or ‘untwist’.
▪ II. unˈtwist, v.
[un-2 3 and 7.]
1. trans. To restore from a twisted state; to untwine. Also in fig. context.
1538Elyot, Retexo, to vntwyste. 1587Greene Penelope's Web Wks. (Grosart) V. 151 A shift to make her work endlesse, by vntwisting as much in the night as she woue in the day. c1590L. Bryskett Mourning Muse 148 Which made them eftsoones feare the daies of Pirrha shold..their fatall threds vntwist. 1626Jackson Creed viii. x. §1 The Sonne of God..began to untwist that triple cord, wherewith our first parents..were bound by Satan. 1632Milton L'Allegro 143 Untwisting all the chains that ty The hidden soul of harmony. 1700Dryden Ovid, Pythagorean Philos. 381 Restless they soon untwist the Web they spun. 1731Swift Nymph going to Bed 19 She..Untwists a wire, and from her gums A set of teeth completely comes. 1760R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 68 Hempen ropes cut small and un⁓twisted, are beneficial [as manure] for lands. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 54 Hop plants, growing round a pole..; if you untwist any, and confine them in the contrary direction, they die. a1834Coleridge Friend (1837) III. 213 Cutting the knot which it cannot untwist. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. iii. vi, Bob had drawn out..[and began] to untwist his canvas bag.
transf.1834Coleridge Table-t. (1835) II. 295 A serpent..makes a fulcrum of its own body, and seems for ever twisting and untwisting its own strength.
b. fig. and in fig. context. To dissolve, break up, decompose.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. viii. vii. §39. 408 The English supposing the Normans to have fled,..began in eager pursuit carelesly to vntwist and display their ranckes. 1640Sir J. Wray Speech in Rushworth Hist. Coll. (1692) I. 40 The Divisions of Great Britain have half untwisted our Long Union. a1644Quarles Hieroglyphikes i. 21 Whose errour-chacing beams..untwist The clouds of ignorance. 1653Jer. Taylor Serm. Year i. xiii. 168 The faith of very many men, seems a duty so weak.., is so often untwisted by violence, or ravel'd and intangled in weak discourses. 1727Thomson To Mem. Newton 98 Ev'n light itself..Shone undiscover'd, till his brighter mind Untwisted all the shining robe of day. 1751Warburton Pope's Wks. I. 105 note, The prismatic glass..untwisting, by its obliquities, those threads of light. 1896A. Austin England's Darling i. i, The outlandish dogs..Untwisting what he bound, and to their will Enserfing all.
†2. To disentangle by explanation or exposition; to expound, make plain. Obs.
1577tr. Bullinger's Decades 5/2 This is the brief summe of the holy fathers tradition, whiche it is best to vntwist more largely. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Magnif. 1314 Hee..at pleasure frees Such doubts, as..might have taskt, t' untwist, The Brachman, Druide, and Gymnosophist. a1625Fletcher Woman Pleas'd v. i, Tis a Witch sure, And by her means he came to untwist this Riddle. 1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. Introd. 8 The Holy Communion..is too much untwisted and nicely handled by the writings of the Doctors. 1773Toplady in Boswell Johnson 7 May, You have untwisted this difficult subject with great dexterity.
3. To loosen, detach, or set free, by untwining. Also fig.
1637S. Marmion Cupid & Psyche i. iii. 394 He took her wrist, And wrung it hard, and did her hands untwist. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 167 A raging storme..separated us; insomuch as we had hardly recovered our companies, had not the..jingling of the Cammells bells revoked, yea untwisted us out of these Caspian or Zagrian straits. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 86 Our souls,..untwisting themselves from all corporeal complications. 1692Dryden Don Sebastian iii. i, Alm. How can we better dye than close embrac'd, Sucking each others Souls while we expire?.. Emp. No I'll untwist you: I have occasion for your stay on Earth.
4. intr. To pass out of a twisted condition; to become untwined.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. 156, I will well that ye wist, The thred is spon, that neuer shall vntwist. a1703Wallis in Greenwood Eng. Gram. (1711) 282 If one of the twines of the twist do untwist, The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Hygrometer, The Cord or Gut twisting and untwisting..will indicate the Change of Moisture. 1786Bonnycastle Astronomy xi. 184 As the thread untwists, the globe..will turn round its axis. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 435 Either of the two palls x and y may..prevent the strands from untwisting. 1897Grant Allen Type-writer Girl i, There..you shall see spring buds untwisting.
fig.1653Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. ii. 22 His purposes untwist as easily as the rude conjuncture of uncombining cables. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 67 Sometimes the words naturally fall asunder;..sometimes they untwist.
Hence unˈtwist ppl. a., = untwisted ppl. a.2
1607Marston What you will ii. i, My spirit is untwist; My heart is raveld out in discontents. 1647N. Ward Simple Cobler 30 When States dishelv'd [= dishevelled] are, and lawes untwist, Wise men keep their tongues. 1651Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year ii. xv. 190 By little and little our strongest resolutions be untwist, and crack in sunder. |