unknit

English

Etymology

From Middle English unknitten, unknetten, uncnütten, from Old English uncnyttan, equivalent to un- +‎ knit.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Verb

unknit (third-person singular simple present unknits, present participle unknitting, simple past and past participle unknit or unknitted)

1. To unravel.

   Exhaustion will unknit even the ordered mind.

   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:

     Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brovv, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To vvound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour.

   • 1904 Christmas, Laura Dayton Fessenden, chapter I, in Hatsu: A Story of Egypt, Highland Park, Ill.: The Canterbury Press, part I, page 4:

     [S]he unknit her fingers from those of the King, and rose and stood before him.

2. To undo knitted stitches by reversing the knitting motion.

Synonyms

• (undo knitted stitches): tink

Adjective

unknit (not comparable)

1. Not knitted.