1. trans. To relax, slacken the tension or firmness of (some part of the body, one’s grasp or hold, etc.).
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. Prol. 87. Seriauns … Not for loue of vr lord vnloseþ heore lippes ones. Ibid. (1377), B. XVII. 139. Þe fader was fyrst, as a fyst with o fynger foldynge, Tyl hym loued and lest to vnlosen his fynger.
1545. Raynald, Byrth Mankynde, 89. By that the body is opened, vnlosed, and resolued.
1564. Child-Marriages, 200. And so, vnlosinge handes, they kissed.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., III. iii. 223. The weake wanton Cupid Shall from your necke vnloose his amorous fould.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 143. The Salmon … takes his tail in his mouth, and with all his force unloosing his circle on a sudden … he mounteth up.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. xiii. My hand, my heart,… is so riveted to thine that I cannot unloose my hold.
1790. Mrs. A. M. Johnson, Monmouth, III. 152. Her hands were clasped about his neck, which could not be unloosed without the greatest violence.
1834. L. Ritchie, Wand. by Seine, 35. He found it impossible to unloose her arms from his neck.
1853. Miss Yonge, Heir of Redclyffe, xii. Saying ‘Good night…,’ [she] unloosed her embrace.
fig. 1757. Mrs. Griffith, Lett. Henry & Frances (1767), II. 47. Providence has wisely ordered, that disappointments … should, by degrees, unloose the hold we take of this dim spot.
2. To set free from bonds, harness, etc.; to release from confinement. Also fig. and refl.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 198. Þat is þe lok of loue þat vnloseþ grace [B. I. 200 lateth oute my grace].
a. 1400. in Engl. Studien, XXXII. 19. Þou, lady, vnlose me of þo bondes Þat I wrot with myn owyn hondes.
1512. Colet, Serm. Convoc., C iv b. Vnlouse your selfe frome the worldly bondage.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. i. 88. Then Yorke vnloose thy long imprisoned thoughts.
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, III. 67. After she had unloosed and well washed me.
1664. Jer. Taylor, Dissuas. Popery, I. iii. § 1. 159. You can as well be dispenc’d with for that Perjury as the other; and you cannot be tied so fast, but the Pope can unloose you.
a. 1711. Ken, Psyche, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 299. The Soul … seem’d from Flesh unloos’d To … spatiate unconfin’d.
1777. Sheridan, Trip Scarb., V. ii. Unloose my lord there, you scoundrel!
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxiii. 288. They were obliged to unloose the dogs and drive them forward alone.
1872. Holland, Marb. Proph., 10. [To] unloose a soul from purgatorial bonds.
absol. 1851. Ht. Martineau, Hist. Peace (1858), 144/1. The function of that new spirit was not to bind but to unloose.
b. To set free for action; to bring into play.
1735. Thomson, Liberty, II. 59. When mysterious Superstition came,… Then tyrant Power the righteous scourge unloos’d.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, II. iv. How wonderfully … your city dignities unloose the tongue.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., v. Having unloosed his repartee to this extent.
3. To undo, untie, unfasten (n knot, belt, band, bundle, etc.). Also in fig. context.
1526. Tindale, Luke iii. 16. Whose shue latchet I am nott worthy to vnloose.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, P v. To confute, is nothyng els but … to vnlose by reason, thynges knit together by craft.
1577. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 39. Then the bundels vnloosed and dryed in the Sunne, are beaten with beetelles.
1608. D. Price, Chr. Warre, 1. The Ænigma is disclosed, the knot vnloosed.
1669. Earl Orrery, Parthen., III. VII. 200. The Gallies … grappled so strongly, that nothing but Victory was able to unloose them.
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. viii. Dr. Slop must have had three fifths of Job’s patience … to have unloosed them [sc. knots].
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 358. To unloose those bands, by which he is connected to his natural prince.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxviii. There are other means of disengaging such ties, without unloosing the cords of life.
1847. F. W. Newman, Hist. Hebrew Monarchy, viii. 272. To unloose the covering from his loins.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxii. 155. I now unloosed my scrip.
fig. 1668. H. More, Div. Dial., I. 93. These Experiments indeed strike very strongly on the … senses, but there is a subtile Reason that presently unlooses all again.
1710. R. Ward, Life H. More, 116. Nothing can unloose the Sophistries of the selfish Animal Life, but [etc.].
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. iii. 96. The Eternal … Must unloose … The snake-like Doom coiled underneath his throne By that alone.
4. To detach, so as to get rid of or remove.
a. 1470. H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), vi. Int. 26/1. Unlouse soo thy richesses from the, that [etc.].
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 214. At which tyme they vnlose the stones, & ryse vppe at their pleasure.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 136. That which they possess They scatter and unloose it from their bond.
1748. Hervey, Medit. (ed. 4), I. 214. Those beneficent Hands, which were … stretched out to unloose the heavy Burthens.
5. intr. To become loose or unfastened. rare.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, 321. The creature easily vnlooseth, because the same was moist and watry.
1697. Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., I. 143. Without this Virtue, the publick Union must unloose.
Hence Unlooser; Unloosing vbl. sb.
1860. Miss Mulock, Domest. Stories (1862), 152. Thus let us think of thee, O Death; gentle *unlooser of life’s burthen.
1611. Florio, Dislegamenti, *vnloosings, vnbindings.
1831. A. W. Fonblanque, Eng. under 7 Administr. (1837), II. 80. The unloosing of Anti-Christ and Satan.
1866. J. H. Newman, Lett. to Pusey, 37. The knot of Eve’s disobedience received its unloosing through the obedience of Mary.
