unline

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ line.

Verb

unline (third-person singular simple present unlines, present participle unlining, simple past and past participle unlined)

1. To remove or separate the lining from.
   • 1848, T. H. Pasley, The Philosophy which Shows the Physiology of Mesmerism, page 87:

     as in the case of gout, a disease of the sufferer's own making, from excess of de-electrising food and drink, which uncoats and unlines the nerves, and thus leaves the nervous fluid, from casual circumstances, to almost lacerate the brain.

   • 1895, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Fringilla, page 44:

     No more that unenquiring heart Perused the sweet home of her breast, Than turtle-doves unline their nest To scan the outer part.

   • 1917, Eugène-Louis Doyen, Surgical Therapeutics and Operative Technique, page 179:

     These instruments are so produced as to suit the procedure of vivification by unlining, which is the one that I exclusively employ .

2. (botany) To undergo a (now debunked) process in which the tissue of a plant separates into identical layers.
   • 1848, John Lindley, An Introduction to Botany:

     There is no instance of unlining which may not be as well explained by the theory of alternation.

   • 1870, Asa Gray, Introduction to Structural and Systematic Botany, page 243:

     The name dédoublement of Duval, which has been translated deduplication, literally means unlining'; the original hypothesis being, that the organs in question unline, or tend to separate into two or more layers, each having the same structure.

   • 1881, Henri Baillon, The Natural History of Plants - Volume 7, page 105:

     The carpophore unlines itself at maturity, and the vittæ are wide and solitary in each furrow.

3. (figurative) To empty (a purse).
   • 1857, John Webster, “The Weakest Goeth To the Wall”, in ‎William Hazlitt, editor, The dramatic works of John Webster, page 254:

     I'll live by a pittance. Unline my purse, and use my person, and for my limbs, take the best in the bunch.

   • 1892, E. J. Sanborn, “Comfort in a Corner”, in Dramas, page 54:

     How many old, Decrepit packs of eighty do we see Get wives, that first unline their purse, then out, Like skinless rats, drive their lean carcasses.

   • 1991, John Ford, edited by Leo Edward Stock, The Nondramatic Works of John Ford, page 10:

     As now rich Opportunity doth give to make you Fame-full though it empt your Pouche: Two Kings thus met, make Kingdomes richly thrive, though it unlines their Purse with wearing much: Then, sith but seld, or ne're Kings consort thus, Be glorious now, or still inglorious.

4. To take out of (literal or figurative) alignment; to disconnect.
   • 1598, John Marston, The Scourge of Villanie:

     To-morrow doth Luxurio promise me He will unline himself from bitchery ;

   • 1903, Robert Hallowell Richards, Breaking, crushing and comminuting, page 16:

     When the eccentric lowers the pitman, it unlines the toggles and the swing jaw is free to recede from the fixed jaw .

   • 2018, James Banks, Letters to People Who Care, page 26:

     And as I've been walking, sure enough, I see little white dots on the hills, those little sheep, and I can see cattle lined up and then unlining about a mile off on the plains .

5. To remove or destroy one or more lines.
   • 1871, W.M. Statham, “The Branch Line”, in The Quiver, page 33:

     However, I am a Line, and they can't "unline" me very well. My soil is not good enough for a market-garden, and if it were, the surrounding inhabitants are too sparse to require so large a supply of the vegetable world.

   • 1905, Giuseppe Mazzini, Life and Writings of Giuseppe Mazzini- Volume 2, page 282:

     She will ask herself whether the confined and relative reason of the artist can be deemed superior to the infinite, absolute reason of the Creator; whether it is for man to rectify God; whether mutilation can improve the beauty of nature; whether are be authorised to unline—if we may use the word — man, life, creation; . . . . whether, in fine, incompleteness be an element of harmony?

   • 1908, “Advertisement: Automobile Facts”, in Circle: A Modern Department Magazine, volume 3, page 371:

     Maxwell cars are of unit construction that no stress can unline.