unreeve
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to unreeve a rope.
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(of a rope) to become unreeved.
verb
Etymology
Origin of unreeve
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:
But he carried all sail till the rotten main-sheet parted at the boom, and when he came up in the wind to lower the sail the main throat halyard refused to unreeve.
From Dick in the Everglades by Dimock, A. W.
At last, as I had repeatedly warned him, the mate singled him out one morning, and commanded him to mount to the main-truck, and unreeve the short signal halyards.
From Redburn. His First Voyage by Melville, Herman
To unreeve the running part of top-sail sheets, &c., to let them run freely, or for harbour duty.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
Lower them down and let the falls unreeve, so that they will go adrift.
From The Wreck of the Titan or, Futility by Robertson, Morgan
Now, then, unreeve y'r halyards! all clear there! pass the end for'd outside the rigging! outside! you fools!
From Moran of the Lady Letty by Norris, Frank
In my next attempt I made sure of not coming by a similar accident, so I unreeved the tackling and fitted up larger blocks and ropes.
From The Coral Island A Tale of the Pacific Ocean by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Yet it pleased God to allay the fury of the storm, and we unreeved our sheets, tacks, halyards, and other ropes, and made fast our ship to the trees on shore, close by the rocks.
The very manner in which the yards were crossed told as plainly of abandonment as unreeved blocks and slackened rigging betokened a careless indifference of her future.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Drake, Samuel Adams
Therefore they unreeved two long lines and attached them to the long-boat, one on each side.
From Library of the World's Best literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 12 by Various
Again and again the noose came back unreeved, and again and again the patient boy, with rare strength and skill, flung the ample noose over the slippery spires of ice.
From Adrift in the Ice-Fields by Hall, Charles W.
Then, I set them to work unreeving the gear and making things snug for setting up our jury-masts, of which this is the first—a downright seamanlike piece of work I call it.”
From The White Squall A Story of the Sargasso Sea by Schonberg, J.
At last they could hold out no longer, and Harry, unreeving the rope, descended to the water and brought up a hatful.
From The Young Berringtons The Boy Explorers by Kingston, William Henry Giles
Run your boat alongside of the capsized one's mast and strip its sail off, unfastening the throat and peak blocks, unreeving the sheet-rope, and cutting the lashings of the sail to the mast-hoops.
From Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895 by Various
This he conveyed on deck, and, unreeving as much of the running-gear as he could get at, a good long warp was made by bending the whole together end to end.
From The Missing Merchantman by Overend, William Heysham
All this time, I was busily working, unreeving the port buntline.
From The Ghost Pirates by Hodgson, William Hope
That fellow swam off to the coaster—five hundred yards or so—with the end of a warp made up of all the running gear unrove for the purpose.
From Lord Jim by Conrad, Joseph
We bent all our spare lines; we unrove sheets and halyards; we used our two-inch hawser; we fastened lines part way up the mast, half way up, and everywhere else.
From A Collection of Stories by London, Jack
Hereupon he rapidly unrove the cord and coiled it away in the bosom of his shirt.
From Captain Brand of the "Centipede" A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies: His Love and Exploits, Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner by Which He Departed This Life by Wise, H. A. (Henry Augustus)
The light canvas of the Coquette was taken in, the studding-sail-gear unrove, and the booms secured.
From The Water-Witch or, the Skimmer of the Seas by Cooper, James Fenimore
This coil is the main signal halliards, which I have unrove for the purpose—they are better than new, for they have been stretched and have had the kinks taken out of them.
From The Castaways by Dugdale, Thomas Cantrell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
