v. [UN-2 3. Cf. WFris. ont-, untwine, Du. onttwijnen.]
1. trans. To untwist; to undo by untwisting or disentangling. Freq. in fig. context.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 1252. To shewen … How the threde shal be vntwyned Of hir lyf.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 43. Or than deth the threed untwyne Of oure fatal web.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, B ij b. Knitting together true Argumentes, and vntwining all knotty Subtiltees.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. Hist. Irel., 14/1. This knotte (saith our Authour) might be vntwyned with more facilitie thus.
1601. Campion, Bk. of Ayres, II. ix. 6. The sprites … Affect for pastime to vntwine her tressed haire.
a. 1656. Hales, Gold. Rem., III. (1673), 24. Idleness, Fulness, and Lust, they are a three-fold cord, twisted by the devil, and hardly untwined and severed by any man.
a. 1687. Waller, Thyrsis, Galatea, 41. Since the Sisters did so soon untwine So fair a thread, I’ll strive to piece the line.
1793. Burns, ‘O Poortith cauld,’ i. O why should Fate sic pleasure have, Life’s dearest bands untwining?
1813. Scott, Rokeby, III. xxii. On his sad brow nor mirth nor wine Could e’er one wrinkled knot untwine.
1847. J. Martineau, Chr. Life, 347. Philosophy … endeavours to untwine the finished web of thought.
b. fig. To dissolve, undo, destroy.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 757. ‘What for twenty,’ quoth þe tolke,’ vntwynez þou hem þenne?’
a. 1470. Harding, Chron., LXXIII. v. With hoost full great of Britons … On Douglas water the Saxons he did vntwine.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 1445. This goodly flowre with stormis was vntwynde. Ibid. (a. 1529), P. Sparowe, 282. O cat…, The fynde was in thy mynde Whan thou my byrde untwynde.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 274 b. So did also the frendshyp … not a litle greue you and full ofte haue assayed that the same might be vntwyned.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, 322. At the instant when he beginneth to be shaped, he likewise beginneth to be vntwined.
1625. Quarles, Sion’s Sonn., ix. 1. The world cannot vntwine The joyfull vnion of His heart, and Mine.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XVI. 950. There ends thy glory! there the fates untwine The last, black remnant of so bright a line.
2. To detach, remove, release, extract, by untwisting. Also fig.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 75. Whom all the Siren songes of Italie could neuer vntwyne from the maste of Gods word.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 108. When death hath vntwined my soule from carcas his holding.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XX. cxxx. His strong arme … She would haue thrust away, loos’d, and vntwin’d.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 59. Let the stinking-Elder (Greefe) vntwine His perishing roote with the encreasing Vine.
1799. Sheridan, Pizarro, I. i. He sued to … untwine the sword from my determined grasp.
1841. Browning, Pippa, Introd. 199. Untwine me from the mass Of deeds which make up life.
1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. II. 46/2. Some privy councillor … come to untwine and wheedle your secrets out of you.
3. intr. To become untwisted or undone.
1592. Arden of Feversham, IV. iv. 80. What, so familiare?… Vntwyne those armes. Ales. I, with a sugred kisse let them vntwine.
1644. Milton, Divorce (ed. 2), vi. 14. For strait … his silk’n breades untwine, and slip their knots.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust, II. III. 266. Soon shall, I fear me, The sweet bond untwine!
Hence Untwining vbl. sb.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. Hist. Irel., 1 b. And that our Irishe hystorie … yeeldeth al these commodities, I trust the indifferent reader, vpon the vntwyning thereof, will not denie.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 494. Which is caused by the untwining of the Beard by the Moisture.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., III. 177. Our thread by often untwining broke it self.
