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:
To pass the end of a rope through any cavity or aperture, as the channel of a block; to unreeve is the opposite.
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
On examining it he found that he could unreeve some of the rope.
From The Rival Crusoes by Kingston, William Henry Giles
"The rope has swollen, sir, and the pendants won't unreeve," cried the middy in agony.
From A Simpleton by Reade, Charles
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.
I was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and violent cramps.
From Ned Myers or, a Life Before the Mast by Cooper, James Fenimore
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
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.
As the Forward began to be weather-worn, the masts were unreeved, for they could no longer rely on the variable wind, and the sails were nearly useless in the winding channels.
From The English at the North Pole Part I of the Adventures of Captain Hatteras by Verne, Jules
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
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
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.
Also, the lug of the cascable is cut open to admit of the bight of the breeching falling into it, thus obviating the loss of time by unreeving.
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
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
All this time, I was busily working, unreeving the port buntline.
From The Ghost Pirates by Hodgson, William Hope
The line, in the shape of the gaff-topsail halliard-fall, hastily unrove for the occasion, was soon forthcoming, and the hook, being at last baited to the second mate’s satisfaction, bent on to the chain.
From The Voyage of the Aurora by Collingwood, Harry
In a minute she had unrove them, and the long line lay in a little pile at her feet.
From The Two Admirals by Cooper, James Fenimore
The top-sails and courses were kept bent to the yards, the sheets being unrove, and the clews tucked in.
From The World of Ice by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
The ropes were unrove, the hands were piped down, and the boats returned to their respective ships.
From Will Weatherhelm The Yarn of an Old Sailor by Webb, Archibald
The topsails and courses were kept bent to the yards, the sheets being unrove and the clews tucked in.
From The World of Ice by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
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.
