unspin

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ spin.

Verb

unspin (third-person singular simple present unspins, present participle unspinning, simple past and past participle unspun)

(transitive) To unravel (something spun, knit, or woven).
- 1883, Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison, ‎Richard Burdon Haldane Haldane, Essays in Philosophical Criticism, page 237:
  They cannot unspin or unweave themselves, they are threads either of warp or woof.
- 1892, Herbert Pierson, “Isabella at Segovia”, in The Cosmopolitan, volume 13, page 341:
  Do you know how Penelope passed her days in spinning and her nights in ravelling her web? This is why her name is given to all the women who imitate her, who spin and unspin.
- 2018, Lynda Teller Pete, ‎Barbara Teller Ornelas, Spider Woman's Children: Navajo Weavers Today:
  Many weavers "unspin" the yarns and respin them to a finer weight.
(transitive, figurative) To counteract fate.
- 1892, Xenophon, The Works of Xenophon, page xxxix:
  Since pen and ink cannot alter facts, nor clotho herself unspin the thread of destiny ( § 39 ) , the historian's sole business is to narrate what has happened;
- 2014, Bonnie Roos, Djuna Barnes's Nightwood: The World and the Politics of Peace, page 159:
  But you, you must unspin fate, go back to find Robin!
- 2020, Emily McKay, Storybound:
  No, the prophecy says Kane will be unspun. Not that this person has the power to unspin him.
- 2021, Lucian of Samosata, The Works of Lucian of Samosata, page vii:
  Cyn. Everything proceeds from the Fates, you say? Zeus. Yes. Cyn. And is it in your power to unspin what they have spun?
(transitive, intransitive) To untwist (something that is twisted or wound)
- 1995, Spin Off - Volumes 19-21, page 76:
  I contemplated "unspinning" everything into the two separate colors, but knew I did not have the patience to unwind that much yarn.
- 2012, June Hemmons Hiatt, The Principles of Knitting, page 21:
  If twist has accumulated in the yarn, it is easy enough to rebalance by letting either the needles and fabric, or the ball, hand free and unspin.
- 2017, Sian O'Neill, Yoga Teaching Handbook, page 51:
  Inhale, step the top right leg over the left, planting the right foot to the floor outside the left hip, into Matsyendrasana, seated twist. Exhale and engage the navel, turn the spine to the right. Release, Breath. Unspin, pressing the hands to the floor to climb into Dog Pose, walking the legs to release.
- 2021, Allie Ticktin, Play to Progress:
  Have them sit on the swing and spin it as fast as they can (the chains might twist up, and that is OK; they just need to stay on to unspin it).
- 2023, Jo Shaw, Neat Knitting Techniques: How to Create the Perfect Finish:
  Depending on the direction of spin, then the cast-on can 'unspin' the yarn and it can break apart.
(ambiintransitive) To stop (something) from spinning.
- 2012, Cynthia Gilstrap, The Defiant, page 57:
  You have to unspin it or the whole world will be sucked down into it.
- 2015, Ed Lukowich, Trillion Years Universe Theory, page 184:
  This strategy also allows the supermassive black hole to pull dominant stars into a cluster around itself, and unspin those stars and force them to go Supernova.
- 2019, Lesli Richardson, ‎Tymber Dalton, A Bleacke Christmas:
  As he closed his eyes, his mind trying to unspin from the long, eventful morning they'd had, his thoughts once again drifted to the ever-present bright spot drifting though his brain.
(transitive) To unmake.
- 1869, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, page 292:
  the garments of they righeousness are light as the web of gossamer, and shall be blown away by the breath of the Eternal, in that day when he will unspin all that nature hath ever woven.
- 2015, R J Zargle, The Tragedy Of Life's Cruel Wisdom, page 7:
  Yet I shall, in bitter revenge, unspin this flesh And cut my tattered existence free of all its tarnished innocence.
- 2020, Elia Bari, ‎Sara Perteghella, ‎Maria Luisa Torre, Silk-based Drug Delivery Systems, page 180:
  At the turn of the 20th century, a second step forward came with the brilliant intuition to unspin silk and thereby reconstitute it into many forms.
- 2023, Subhas C. Kundu, ‎Rui L. Reis, Silk-Based Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering, Regenerative and Precision Medicine, page 694:
  However, an essential requirement is to first "unspin the silk fiber”—a protocol that is now well-established [31].
To counteract or decipher a complicated web of lies, statements, arguments, traditions, etc.
- 2013, Michael S. Collins, Understanding Etheridge Knight:
  It was an impulse to use art to unspin poisonous “social/psycho/spiritual” formations.
- 2014, Jean-Paul Dumont, Under the Rainbow: Nature and Supernature among the Panare Indians, page 4:
  In fact, our analysis will be an attempt to unravel or unspin the seamless web of Panare thought.
- 2019, Noah D. Guynn, Pure Filth: Ethics, Politics, and Religion in Early French Farce, page 189:
  While canoncial rulings establish the extent to which the ius exigendi debitum failed to unspin patriarchal power relations, we have reason to surmise that it enabled experimentation in everyday domestic life by positing marital sovereignty as reciprocal and variable, sexual roles as extrinsic and exchangeable, and the individual subject as alternately sovereign and enslaved.
- 2022, Joe Campanale, ‎Joshua David Stein, Vino: The Essential Guide to Real Italian Wine, page 291:
  One could—and others have—unspin the sad story of why this island was known for so long for its bulk wines, shipped by tanker to Europe for blending, and the much-maligned Marsala, destined not for drinking, but for cooking .
- 2024, Bear Kosik, ‎Paul Barone, C Square:
  Bear Kosik, Paul Barone. Chapter. Delta. The only thing to do was to unspin everything and find the core reason why Dr. Nilo had so much wanted to be able to isolate the genetic code that prevented individuals at the two ends of the intelligence spectrum from having common sense.
To reveal the truth behind PR (public relations) or slanted reporting.
- 1998, Armen Keteyian, ‎Harvey Araton, ‎Martin F. Dardis, Money Players: Inside the New NBA, page 262:
  Around the pressroom, there was a palpable sense of satisfaction from knowing that, on this rare occasion, sportswriters and broadcasters could unspin the corporate spin, restore the proper pecking order to the basketball universe.
- 2007, D. Wring, ‎J. Green, ‎R. Mortimore, Political Communications: The General Election Campaign of 2005, page 219:
  The trope requires a distinction between untrustworthy, biased politicians and trustworthy, unbiased experts. The latter are required to reveal, or to unspin, the misleading appearances of the former.
- 2015, Abiodun Olayinka Bamgbelu, Mediocre Great England, page 572:
  Anand, I will unspin the incompetent spin by the verifiable mediocre and dishonest council.
- 2020, Ali Kadri, A Theory of Forced Labour Migration, page 4:
  In the same way it has spun a story to turn myth into reality, it could unspin that story.
- 2023, Monte Wood, ‎Nicole F. Roberts, Generosity Wins:
  Many of us in leadership have sold people a few lies, and we have to unspin those lies.
(transitive) To disentangle.
- 1935, Yachting - Volume 58, page 101:
  It took about six of us to unspin that web, but finally the whole mess was lowered to the deck .
- 1970, Mary Richie, A Romantic Education, page 59:
  I had to unspin this shimmering construction and move back and forth through the rooms tracing the pattern without getting tangled in it.
- 2021, Thomas Wolfe, The Web and the Rock:
  He belonged to it, even as three hundred of his blood and bone had belonged to it, and must unweave it from his brain, distill it from his blood, unspin it from his entrails, and escape with demonic and exultant joy into his father's world, new lands and mornings and the shining city—or drown like a mad dog, die!
To happen; to unfold; to develop.
- 1955, Peter Mayne, Journey to the Pathans:
  My life bifurcated. On half of it continued to unspin itself gently in the parklands of the Embassy, the other in and out of government offices, getting a little tangled in the process,
- 1997, Joan Fay Cuccio, The Geometry of Love, page 115:
  […] looking always for a way to unspin the story I kept tightly wrapped to me .
- 2014, Adam L. Penenberg, “Praise for Blood Highways”, in Blood Highways:
  In a swift, dramatic account, Penenberg unspins the convoluted political and legal history of the dangerous automotive pairing.

Synonyms

undo
unravel

Anagrams

unpins