unknit

English

Etymology

From Middle English unknitten, unknetten, uncnütten, from Old English uncnyttan, equivalent to un- +‎ knit.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪt

Verb

unknit (third-person singular simple present unknits, present participle unknitting, simple past and past participle unknit or unknitted)

  1. To unravel.
    Exhaustion will unknit even the ordered mind.
    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:
      Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brovv, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To vvound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour.
    • 1904 Christmas, Laura Dayton Fessenden, chapter I, in Hatsu: A Story of Egypt, Highland Park, Ill.: The Canterbury Press, part I, page 4:
      [S]he unknit her fingers from those of the King, and rose and stood before him.
  2. To undo knitted stitches by reversing the knitting motion.

Synonyms

  • (undo knitted stitches): tink

Adjective

unknit (not comparable)

  1. Not knitted.
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