Unmolds

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To remove a substance from a mold, allowing it to take on a desired shape; to release an object from a container designed to impart form; to transform a material into a new configuration by extraction from a form
2. The act of extracting an item from its cast or form to reveal its finished attributes; detaching a creation from its shape-imposing structure; reshaping a material by taking it out of a mold
3. The process of liberating an item from a mold that has given it shape; to take an object out of a form that holds it while it sets; adjusting a substance into its final shape by removing it from a shaping cavity

Etymology: "Unmolds" is the third-person singular present form of "unmold," so the work of the word lies in its verb. The verb is formed from "un-," an English prefix meaning "reverse" or "undo," attached to "mold." The mold itself traces back through Middle English "molde" to Old French "modle," a word for a pattern or model, which English borrowed and eventually shaped into the familiar noun-and-verb pair. Its meaning follows from the prefix. A mold gives a material its form, so to unmold is to take the finished thing out of that enclosing shape and let it stand on its own. The same action covers a freshly set cake leaving its tin, a cast metal part lifted from its sand form, and a figure drawn from a plaster casing. The prefix reverses the forming action, so the verb describes the release that follows the shaping.

Synonyms: removes, extracts