1. trans. To undo the clenching of (bars, etc.).
1340–70. Alisaunder, 1172. Hee unclosed þe caue, unclainte þe barres.
1775. Ash, Unclench,… to raise the point of a bended nail.
1825. [see UNCLENCHING vbl. sb.].
2. To relax or open (the clenched hand, a grip or clutch, etc.).
[1775. Ash.]
1816. Monthly Mag., XLI. 143. Nor dares unclench the hand of her relief.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., X. 600. Revenge … would pluck pang forth, but unclench No gripe in the act, let fall no money-piece.
1884. Mrs. Spender, Mr. Nobody, II. iii. 180. He looked at her flashing eyes, feeling as if he were unable to move his tongue, or even to unclench his teeth.
1888. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Bootle’s Childr., vii. So he stood there clenching and unclenching his hands,… the very picture of misery.
fig. 1839. Bailey, Festus, L’Envoi, 361. God was with him; and bade old Time, to the youth, Unclench his heart.
b. To cause to relax; to force open.
1793. Minstrel, III. 70. I flew on the wretch who held him, unclenched his grasping hand from the throat of my darling.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxxi. ‘We have time for no more of this,’ cried the man, unclenching her hands, and throwing her roughly off.
1888. G. E. Post, in Centen. Conf. Missions, I. 323. A grasp of iron which the crusaders could not unclench.
c. refl. and absol. Of the hand: To relax from a clenched state.
[1755. Johnson.]
1900. Daily News, 11 Oct., 3/1. The nervous hand, clenching and unclenching as his passions swayed him.
1901. Mrs. E. L. Voynich, Jack Raymond, 87. He let his hand fall by his side and unclench itself slowly.
3. trans. To loosen from a grasp or hold.
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang. (1865), 2. Her lessons … have been unclenched by sheer labour from the granite hand of nature.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, xxv. 9. Unglue the nails adroit to steal, unclench the spoil.
Hence Unclenching vbl. sb.
[1775. Ash.]
1825. Scott, Betrothed, Concl. Hasten thy unclenching and undoing of rivets.
