unroll

[ uhn-rohl ]
See synonyms for unroll on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to open or spread out (something rolled or coiled): to unroll a bolt of fabric.

  2. to lay open; display; reveal.

  1. Obsolete. to strike from a roll or register.

verb (used without object)
  1. to become unrolled or spread out: The scrolls unroll easily.

  2. to become continuously visible or apparent: The landscape unrolled before our eyes.

Origin of unroll

1
First recorded in 1375–1425, unroll is from the late Middle English word unrollen.See un-2, roll

Words Nearby unroll

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use unroll in a sentence

  • The steely lake, and the rough-ridged, black-green sea of the fir-tops began to unroll below him.

    Kings in Exile | Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
  • Soften the leaves by soaking in hot water, unroll carefully and examine with a hand lens or low power of the microscope.

  • The author began in the previous verse to unroll his magnificent record of the elders.

  • Then in an instant there seemed to unroll before him the long, slow years of the desolation of that home without Jamie.

    Earth's Enigmas | Charles G. D. Roberts
  • unroll thy long scroll and say, have they won who first reached the goal, heedless of a brother's rights?

    How to Succeed | Orison Swett Marden

British Dictionary definitions for unroll

unroll

/ (ʌnˈrəʊl) /


verb
  1. to open out or unwind (something rolled, folded, or coiled) or (of something rolled, etc) to become opened out or unwound

  2. to make or become visible or apparent, esp gradually; unfold

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