Unlays

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Separates the twisted strands of a rope or cable by turning them apart so they come loose from one another
2. Undoes the twist of a rope by unwinding its component yarns, often to splice it or reuse the fibers
3. Takes apart a laid rope by untwisting its strands, returning them to their separate, unbound state

Etymology: "Unlays" is the third-person singular present of "unlay," a verb meaning to undo the strands of a rope so that it comes apart. The verb is formed from the prefix "un-" (meaning to reverse an action) attached to "lay," and the rope sense is what the word was built for: a twisted rope is "laid" when its strands are twisted together, so unlaying it reverses that twisting. "Lay" traces back through Middle English "leyen" and Old English "lecgan" to a Proto-Germanic verb "lagjanan," meaning to cause something to lie down, which is also the source of the modern verb "lie" in its transitive sense. The root is far older still, reaching back to a Proto-Indo-European form, and it passed into English through the Germanic line rather than through Latin or French.

Synonyms: untwist