Unwindan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to uncoil or unwrap something that has been wound or twisted around itself or another object
2. An Old English strong verb for undoing a winding, releasing thread, cord, or cloth from the coil or wrapping it was held in
3. Archaic Old English term describing the act of loosening and drawing out wound material such as thread, rope, or bandage

Etymology: Old English "unwindan" is built from the prefix "un-", meaning "reverse" or "undo" (here, undoing an action rather than negating a quality), and "windan", "to wind, turn, twist, wrap." The verb reaches back to Proto-Germanic roots and is related to modern German "winden" and Old Norse "vinda," so it belongs to a family of words about turning and coiling that goes back long before written English. The word's sense of literally unwinding thread or cord is its original and most concrete meaning. Its later figurative uses, such as relaxing after tension or unraveling a story, grew out of that picture of loosening something coiled. Speakers of Old English would have used it in exactly the practical setting its meaning describes: taking yarn off a spool or a length of cord off a bundle.