v. [UN-2 4, 5.]
1. trans. To dislodge.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 776. Than shal no mete or drynk come in me, Til I my soule out of my breste vnsheþe.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1724. She sheathed in her harmless breast A harmful knife, that thence her soul unsheathed.
2. To draw (a weapon) out of the sheath or scabbard. To unsheathe the sword, to begin hostilities or slaughter. (Cf. SHEATHE v. 2.)
a. 1542. Wyatt, Ps. xxxvii. 41. They have unsheathed eke their bloudye brands.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 774. Aeneas … his glistering sword unshethes,… [and] the cabels cut in twaine.
1600. 1st Pt. Sir J. Oldcastle, V. x. 78. Wherefore were your sharpe edgde kniues vnsheathde?
1649. Milton, Eikon., ix. 78. Never was King less in danger of any violence from his Subjects, till he unsheath’d his Sword against them.
1683. Waller, Invasion of Turks, 60. Unsheathing the destructive sword.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., VI. 686. Are these … the swords Thy hand unsheath’d and gave the savage hordes?
1884. A. R. Pennington, Wiclif, v. 176. The sword of the persecutor would be unsheathed against him.
fig. and transf. 1692. A. Pitcairne, Babell, 287. He did his trustie tongue unsheath…. It was a blade that he could trust.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VII. 335. Nature has furnished her [sc. the grasshopper] with an instrument at her tail,… which she can sheathe and unsheathe at pleasure.
1810. Southey, Kehama, XVI. xiv. The Beast…, His mouth half-open, and his teeth unsheath’d.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxvii. A tame leopard, whose claws might be unsheathed … at any moment.
3. To take out of, strip of, a sheath or covering. Also fig. and refl.
1638. N. Whiting, Albino & Bellama, 2275. At time of rest her body she unsheathed, And housed within the linen walls her limbs.
1664. H. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 30. If you unsheath her body, and take off her spotted short crustaceous wings.
1875. Sears, Serm. & Songs, 6. When our spiritual senses are first unsheathed.
1893. J. Pulsford, Loyalty to Christ, II. 225. Sing for joy;… and others will be moved to unsheathe themselves of their wintry earthliness.
4. intr. ‘To come out from a sheath’ (Cent. Dict.).
Hence Unsheathing vbl. sb.
1611. Cotgr., Desgaine, an vnsheathing … of a weapon.
1823. Lamb, Elia, II. Old Margate Hoy. Whistling to the sheathing and unsheathing of their cutlasses.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, 152. The unsheathings of that terrible sword.
