v. [UN-2 3.]
1. refl. or trans. To free (oneself or another) from bands or braces forming part of clothing or armor. Also absol.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 7007. Ector affter euere chases, At eche a lepe his stede vnbrasis.
1420–2. Lydg., Thebes, 4284. He alighte doun, And brotherly, with a pitous face, To saue his lyf gan hym to vnbrace.
1598. Florio, Sbracciarsi, to vnbrace ones selfe.
1633. Rowley, Match at Midn., IV. Widow. You will not be so uncivil to unbrace you here?… Alex. I will off with my doublet to my very shirt.
1637. Heywood, Pleas. Dial., xviii. 147. Par. Have them all stript naked…. Merc. Vnbrace your selues, put off, and nothing hide.
b. fig. To lay open; to disclose, reveal.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., IV. Now y’are both present, I will unbrace such a close private villain Unto your vengeful swords.
2. trans. To undo, to loosen or untie, to relax (a band, grasp, etc.).
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 629. The ȝaip ȝeman to the ȝet is gane; Enbraissit [read vn-] the bandis beliue.
c. 1475. Lament. Mary Magd., xxxi. Than gan I there min armes to vnbrace Up lifting my handes ful mourningly.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. iv. 9. The knight … Knit all his forces, and gan soone vnbrace His grasping hold.
1598. Yong, Diana, 189. A faire and daintie hand he did vnbrace.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XIV. 245. The queen of love … from her fragrant breast the zone unbraced.
1762–9. Falconer, Shipwr., II. 521. Arion … The cordage of the leeward guns unbraced.
b. To loosen, detach, or set free by the undoing or removal of braces or bonds.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., Wks. (Grosart), IV. 71. The resplendent eye-out-brauing buildings of your Temple, (like a Drum) shal be vngirt & vnbraced.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt, ccix. Now with mayne blowes their Armours are vnbras’d.
1654. Whitelocke, Jrnl. Swed. Emb. (1772), II. 365. The gunner was so amazed with the daunger, that he forgott to unbrace the gunnes, and shott away the maine sheate.
1714. ‘Nestor Ironside’ (Croxall), Orig. Canto Spenser, xli.
| So gan they soon her Armoury unbrace, | |
| Who lay astound through Force of magick Art, | |
| And on that youthful Squire it tired to place, | |
| Who thereat woxe right blythe and glad in Heart. |
1813. Scott, Trierm., II. xxiv. Gay shields were cleft, and crests defaced, And steel coats riven, and helms unbraced.
1828. Landor, Imag. Conv., III. 133. Unbrace his armour—loose the helmet first.
c. To relax the tension of (a drum).
1593. [see 2 b].
1636. Massinger, Bashf. Lover, IV. i. Had you been Employed to mediate your father’s cause, My drum had been unbraced, my trumpet hung up.
1691. Dryden, K. Arthur, III. i. Furl up our Colours, and Unbrace our Drums.
† 3. To carve (a mallard or duck). Obs.
The two earlier instances are repeated in many later copies of the list of ‘proper terms.’
c. 1470. Hors, Shepe, & G. (Roxb.), 33. A malard unbrased; a cony unlaced.
1508. W. de Worde, Bk. Keruynge, in Babees Bk. (1868), 265. Vnbrace that malarde.
1687. J. Shirley, Rich Closet of Rarities, 52. In unbracing a Mallard, Observe that you raise up the pinion and leg, not taking them off.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 78. Unbrace that Duck or Mallard.
1771. Mrs. Haywood, New Present for Maid, 269. To unbrace a Duck. Ibid., 270. To unbrace a Mallard.
1804. Farley, Lond. Art Cookery (ed. 10), 293. To unbrace a mallard or duck, first raise the pinions and legs.
4. fig. † a. To allow or make (the heart) to relax in feeling; to free (oneself) from restraint.
c. 1485. Skelton, Death Edw. IV., 93. O ye curtes commyns, your hertis vnbrace Benyngly now to pray for me also.
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl., Ador. Sheph., 448. Nowe pray we to hym with good intent, And sing I will, and me unbrace.
1511[?]. Sir T. Phelyppis, in Early XVI Cent. Lyrics, lxvii. 24. The rose I suppose thyn hart vnbrace.
b. To render lax or slack; esp. to deprive of firmness or strength in this way; to enfeeble, weaken.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 249, ¶ 5. Laughter, while it lasts, slackens and unbraces the Mind, weakens the Faculties.
1715. Pope, Iliad, IV. 365. But wasting years, that wither human race, Exhaust thy spirits, and thy arms unbrace.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 9, ¶ 2. What rules has he proposed totally to unbrace the slackened nerve?
1799. Phil. Trans., XC. 2. The muscles of the malleus having been deemed sufficient for bracing and unbracing it.
1865. Lowell, Wks. (1890), V. 293. The war … which invigorate bolder men, unbraced him.
1884. Fortn. Rev., Jan., 37. Everything has been done that could be done … to unbrace the sinew of national resistance.
c. absol. To become lax; to lose firmness.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, VI. 210. Let her Eyes lessen, and her Skin unbrace.
1699. Garth, Dispens., 37. At thy Approach the Springs of Nature start, The Nerves unbrace.
a. 1718. Parnell, Gift of Poetry, 455. When spirits stop their course, when nerves unbrace, And outward action and perception cease.
