v. [UN-2 3.]
1. trans. To undo or dissolve (a spell).
1611. Cotgr., Descharmer, to vncharme, vnspell, frustrate a charme.
1671. Tuke, Adv. 5 Hours, v. (ed. 3), 94. Her. Sure w’are enchanted, and all we see’s illusion. Cam. Allow me, Henrique, to unspel these Charms.
2. To free from a spell.
1635. Quarles, Embl., IV. xv. Ah, if my voyce could, Orpheus-like, unspell My poore Eurydice, my soul, from hell.
1681. Dryden (Tate), Abs. & Achit., II. 117. Such Practices as These, too gross to lye Long unobserv’d,… The more judicious Israelites Unspell’d, Though still the Charm the giddy Rabble held.
1777. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 6 Oct. I am glad Master unspelled you, and run you all on rocks.
1890. Handbk. Folklore (ed. Gomme), 132. A prince is transformed into a loathsome beast;… he is unspelled and they marry.
† 3. To decipher, read. Obs.–1
1665. Sergeant, in Digby, Nat. Bodies, *4. Even that great Soule, which fathomes th’ Universe, Unspells the Heaven’s broad volume.
4. (See quot.)
1846. Printing Apparatus for Amateurs, 34. In the process of distributing [the type] the word is unspelt, beginning with the first letter of the word.
Hence Unspelling vbl. sb. Also attrib.
1897. A. Nutt, in K. Meyer, Voy. Bran, II. 16. Manawyddan obtains … the unspelling of the land. Ibid. (1902), Leg. Holy Grail, 52. The unspelling theme. Ibid., 53. In Crestien … it is subordinated to the unspelling quest.
