unlay
Americanverb (used with object)
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to separate (a strand) from a rope.
-
to untwist (a rope) in order to separate its strands.
verb
Etymology
Origin of unlay
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They're not suddenly going to press the rewind button and totally unlay you off.
From Time Magazine Archive
We unlay the strands of each of the ropes we intend to join, for about half the length that the splice will be, putting each strand of the one between two strands of the other.
For a fair-sized rope unlay about 9 ft. of each end.
From Knots, Bends, Splices With tables of strengths of ropes, etc. and wire rigging by J. Netherclift Jutsum
Suppose you and Widgeon try to unlay one of the sail-ropes and make a fishing-line.”
From Mother Carey's Chicken Her Voyage to the Unknown Isle by A. Forestier
"Well, Mister Paine," he cried, sarcastically stressing the title, "are n't you man enough to unlay a bit of rope and make a Flemish eye?"
From The Mutineers by Charles Boardman Hawes
Kerry Perkins, an aquarist at the Sea Life aquarium in Brighton, said a four-year fast was a possibility, but noted that the octopus may have got nutrients from unlaid eggs or very occasional, unobserved titbits.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2014
Returning later and finding the wire unlaid, Templer picked up the telephone and called the Public Works Department.
From Time Magazine Archive
An X-ray device has been developed which tells genuine from imitation leather, and which reveals the minutest internal details of insects, down to embryonic skeletons in unlaid eggs.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hertz, made of weaker stuff than Hoff, tries to persuade him to do as he himself has done: to compromise, to live with unlaid ghosts.
From Time Magazine Archive
Passing its closed gates daily, I was always sensible of a qualm of the spirit, a daunting prescience that the stilled mansion still harbored the ghost of an unlaid secret.
From From a Bench in Our Square by Samuel Hopkins Adams
She sealed that letter and she moved about the room unlaying and as she unlaid, destroying, all evidences, all treasures, all landmarks, all that in any way referred to or touched upon her working life.
From This Freedom by A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth) Hutchinson
An Eye Splice is formed by unlaying the end of a rope for a short distance, and then, after closing up the end, to form an eye of the desired size.
From Knots, Bends, Splices With tables of strengths of ropes, etc. and wire rigging by J. Netherclift Jutsum
He held out the wet end of the rope, showing how it was neatly bound with copper-wire to keep it from fraying out and unlaying.
From Sappers and Miners The Flood beneath the Sea by Hal Hurst
He hung for a moment over the side, twisted himself back in a strong effort to regain his balance, and incautiously planted his foot inside the unlaying coil.
From Jim Spurling, Fisherman or Making Good by Albert Walter Tolman
Boston found a sounding-rod in the locker, which he scraped bright with his knife, then, unlaying a strand of the rope for a line, sounded the pump-well.
From Great Sea Stories by Joseph Lewis French
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