unreel

American  

[uhn-reel] / ʌnˈril /

verb (used with object)

1. to unwind from or as if from a reel.

   to unreel some wire; to unreel a tangled skein.

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verb (used without object)

1. to become unreeled.

Other Word Forms

• unreelable adjective
• unreeler noun

Etymology

Origin of unreel

First recorded in 1560–70; un- ² + reel ¹

Example Sentences

But the parade was such a spectacle that the “many imps of office boys who, from a hundred windows, began to unreel the spools of tape that record the fateful messages of the ‘ticker.’

From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2015

Schmidlin had to unreel the print by hand to see whether he could identity anything.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2015

All of this was apparent in the first set's opening piece, Thelonious Monk's "Jackie-ing," its rhythmic twists and turns inspiring Green to unreel brilliantly sleek, fast-moving lines.

From Chicago Tribune • May 20, 2011

The judicial scandal began to unreel some 17 months ago when federal agents planted microphones in the offices of Roofers Union Local 30-30b.

From Time Magazine Archive

The film began to unreel and before they knew it Paul, Ruth and Alice were being depicted in the rescue scene, which, when it was projected on the screen, made a series of effective pictures.

From The Moving Picture Girls at Sea or, A Pictured Shipwreck That Became Real by Hope, Laura Lee

Related Words

• loosen
• unfurl
• unravel