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unpick

[uhn-pik]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to take out the stitches of (sewing, knitting, etc.).

Origin of unpick

1350–1400 for earlier sense; 1770–80 for current sense; Middle English unpiken to pick (a lock); see un-2, pick1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for unpick

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Connie, if we can unpick the lock and get the door open, where shall we go?

  • In this case, unpick the cuffs if possible, if not, cut them off close up.

  • I am going to unpick those tucks, and line them softly with cotton wool, and lay the francs in the cotton wool.

  • But people of lesser force and power, if they get their stitches wrong, have to unpick them and do it all over again.

    At Large

    Arthur Christopher Benson

  • But to respectable Blackdeep society the Suttons remained a vexatious knot which it could not unpick and lay straight.

British Dictionary definitions for unpick

unpick

verb (tr)
  1. to undo (the stitches) of (a piece of sewing)
  2. to unravel or undo (a garment, etc)
  3. obsolete to open (a door, lock, etc) by picking
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012