v. [UN-2 6 b and 4.]
1. trans. To weaken the sinews of; to render weak or feeble; to enervate.
1598. Florio, Sneruare, to vnsinew, to weaken ones bodie.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, V. xv. 255. It is not so much the climate, as bad and unwholesome diet,… which unsineweth those Northern nations when they come into the South.
1645. Wither, Vox Pacif., 119. This imprudencie will … Your bones unsinnew, and your joynts untie.
1693. Dryden, Persius, VI. 89. Now Toys and Trifles from their Athens come, And Dates and Pepper have unsinnew’d Rome.
1845. Blackw. Mag., LVII. 781. Death unsinews the hand that held her against the world.
b. fig. To weaken, enfeeble.
1599. Daniel, Musoph., Wks. (1602), B iiij b. This skill … Vnsinewes all your powres, vnmans you quite.
1609. G. Benson, Serm., 7 May, 57. The want of this knowledge vnsinewes the powers of a man.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, Ded. ¶ 84. The affected purity of the French has unsinnewed their heroic verse.
1744. Akenside, Epistle to Curio, 160. What spells unsinew’d thy determin’d soul?
1866. Lytton, Lost Tales Miletus, Secret Way, 16. The hold Of a strong phantasy, which, night and day,… unsinews life.
2. (See quot.)
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Sinew, To unsinew a horse,… is to cut the two tendons on the side of the head, about five inches under the eyes.
