Unreels

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To wind off or unwind something that has been coiled on a spool ; to unfold or play out as a film or moving picture does ; to narrate or recount a story step by step
2. Unspooling thread or cord from a reel ; the way a film or sequence of events plays out before the viewer ; relating a tale bit by bit in order
3. To draw out something coiled around a spindle ; to proceed or be shown over time like a movie ; to recite events one after another

Etymology: "Unreels" is the third-person singular present form of "unreel," which means to unwind something that has been wound onto a reel, such as thread or fishing line. The verb is formed simply by attaching the prefix "un-" to "reel," so its history lies mostly in the older word it builds on. "Reel" comes from Old English and is a noun for a spool or cylinder on which thread, line or film is wound. The prefix "un-" traces back through Old English "on" and "and," which carried a sense of "against" or "back." Over the centuries, that sense of reversal settled into the prefix's modern job: undoing an action, as in "unwrap" or "unlock."

Synonyms: unwind, uncoil

Antonyms: wind