Unreeled

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Unwound or spun off a reel, as thread, fishing line or film ; recited or narrated in a long, fluent sequence of events
2. Drawn off a spool or wheel as line or film ; described or recounted one piece after another in a continuous flow
3. Paid out from a spindle as cord or tape ; spoken or told in a steady, rolling stream of details and happenings

Etymology: "Unreeled" is the past tense and past participle of "unreel," which combines the prefix "un-" with "reel," the familiar word for a spool or the act of winding thread onto one. The prefix is the Old English "and-" or "on-" family, meaning "against" or "back," so the verb carries a sense of reversing a winding: pulling thread or line back off the cylinder it was wound around. Fishing lines, kite strings and film stock are the classic examples, each unwinding gradually as it is drawn out. The reel itself is the older half of the pair, rooted in a Germanic word for a revolving frame, so "unreel" is a plain reversal built on a very old piece of English machinery. Its meaning stayed close to the physical act of unwinding, and the word has kept that concrete sense from its beginnings.

Synonyms: unwind, unroll, uncoil

Antonyms: reel, wind