v. [UN-2 3, 4, 7.]
1. trans. To remove the wrapping from; to uncover by removing a wrapping or the like. Also refl.
Before c. 1820 somewhat rare; cf. sense 2.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s Prol., 5. So soore artow ywoundid That verray nede vnwrappeth al thy wounde hid.
1530. Palsgr., 769/1. Unwrappe this same and looke what is in it.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Dessiller, to vnwrappe his eies, to restore the sight.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Pibrac’s Titrastica, lxxxiii. Her spightfull Cords shee can so closely knit, That though at last wee happen to un-wrap us; The print thereof still in our Fames will sit.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II. 119. The man-slayer was unwrapping the bundle.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xxii. He had wrapped the box up in a great many covers, that he might see Hetty unwrapping it with growing curiosity.
fig. 1889. R. Bridges, Sonn., xxix. The sun’s first rays, That lift the dark west and unwrap the night.
† b. fig. To unfold, reveal, disclose, explain. Obs. rare.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., IV. pr. vi. (1868), 133. Þou hast ȝeuen … me to vnwrappen þe hidde causes of þinges.
1593. Sidney’s Arcadia, III. (1629), 366. I will disclose my greatest secret…. I will, I say, vnwrap my hidden estate.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XVII. lxxxvii. That so I could the Catalogue vnwrap Of thy great nephewes, yet vnborne.
c. To deliver out of, release from, free of, some envelopment; to liberate or set free. Also fig.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 12. Like a maze, out of which we can not vnwrapp our selues, vnlesse [etc.].
1568. Earl of Sussex, in E. Lodge, Illustr. Brit. Hist. (1791), II. 6. And, lastly, to foresee that these Scotts on bothe sydes packe not together, so as to unwrappe … ther mystres owte of all present slaunders, purge her openly [etc.].
1620. Shelton, 2nd Pt. Don Quix., xlviii. 321. Vnwrapping him from the Sheet and the Quilt, they pinched him.
c. 1825. Beddoes, Poems, Torrismond, I. iv. Unwrap me of my years, and hunt me … Into my mother’s womb! there unbeget me!
2. To open, unwind, or unroll (what is wrapped or wound); † to unfurl (a sail). Also fig.
Rare before 19th cent.; cf. sense 1.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (MS. Cott. Tib.), fol. 3. Þis matyre … haþ meny … wyndyngs and wrynkklyngs þat wol noȝt be vnwrappid. Ibid. My wyt ys ful lytel to vnwrappe þe gret hardnes of so wondre werks.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneid, III. (Arb.), 76. Our sayls vnwrapped vphoysing,… thee rough seas deepelye we furrowe.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., III. 821. Where the savage leader lay … [he] directs his eager way, Unwraps the tyger’s hide, and strives … To close the wound.
1860. Ruskin, Unto this Last, ii. (1896), 60. Rags unwrapped from the breasts of goodly soldiers dead.
1894. A. Robertson, Nuggets, etc., 27. He unwrapped his blankets, [and] spread them on the bed.
b. (See quot.)
1859. T. Lund, Elem. Geom. & Mensuration, III. 316. We may call attention to two cases of curved surfaces, where the surface can be unwrapped, so as to form a plane surface.
3. intr. To undergo unwrapping or unwinding.
1833. Whewell, Astron., 218. A stone at the end of a string, when the string is whirled round, and is allowed to wrap round the hand, or to unwrap from it.
c. 1888. Yeats, Poems (1912), 261. Joy … stirs the young kid’s budding horn, And makes the infant ferns unwrap.
