verb trans
(+ out) to unravel or disentangle (something)
(often + up) to entangle or confuse (something)
to become unwoven, untwisted, or unwound; to fray
Dutch rafelen, from rafel loose thread; related to Old English ræfter rafter1. The seemingly contradictory senses of this verb, meaning both ‘disentangle’ and ‘entangle’, have coexisted ever since its earliest known occurrences in the 1580s. This is probably because, depending on one's point of view, threads running loose from woven material can be seen as either disentangling or entangling