unknit

To unravel.

Adjective

  1. Not knitted.

Origin

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

Verb

  1. To unravel.
    • Exhaustion will unknit even the ordered mind.
    • Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brovv, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To vvound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour. - c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the...
    • [S]he unknit her fingers from those of the King, and rose and stood before him. - 1904 Christmas, Laura Dayton Fessenden, chapter I, in Hatsu: A Story of Egypt, Highland Park, Ill.: The Canterbury Press, part I, page 4:
  2. To undo knitted stitches by reversing the knitting motion.

Forms

unknits unknitting unknit unknitted

Synonyms

tink