unstring
Americanverb
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to remove the strings of
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(of beads, pearls, etc) to remove or take from a string
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to weaken or enfeeble emotionally (a person or his nerves)
Etymology
Origin of unstring
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:
That alone would’ve been enough for me to unstring my racquets and call it a career.
From Newsweek ● Jun. 21, 2011
"Co-Tan," he said, "unstring your bow—these are my friends, and yours."
From Out of Time's Abyss by Burroughs, Edgar Rice
Meantime, as if fearful that the continuance of the scene might too much unstring his master, the servant seemed anxious to terminate it.
From The Piazza Tales by Melville, Herman
As we had no hearers we used to give wonderful expression to our singing, possibly it was lucky no one could hear us, for it would certainly unstring their nerves.
From Jethou or Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles by Suffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)
The morning is positive; in the evening we muse and dream and take our ease, we see our friends, we unstring the bow, we indulge our social instincts.
From The Last Harvest by Burroughs, John
His liveliest sallies, his bitterest jests, were all reserved for these occasions, so that mirth or anger was forever unstringing the nerves of his competitors, and diminishing their chance of gain.
From Bred in the Bone by Payn, James
"Maybe it's too early yet for the unstringing to begin!"
From The Virginian, a Horseman of the Plains by Wister, Owen
There was something horrible, unnatural in the silence, and I felt fear run down my back like ice, unstringing my muscles, sucking my heart.
From The Courtship of Morrice Buckler A Romance by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
Your nerves are on the rack, and will be the better for unstringing.
From Recalled to Life by Allen, Grant
Uncle says that after you have been at work very hard it’s like unstringing the bow; and so it is.
From The Ocean Cat's Paw The Story of a Strange Cruise by Stacey, W. S. (Walter S.)
By the time Gilgamesh sets out in search of immortality, he is already unstrung.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
He also wore a fur pelt around his neck and carried an unstrung wooden archery bow.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 13, 2023
That is not to say it’s historically unstrung along the lines of “The Great” or “Bridgerton” or Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”; generally speaking, it stays put within its period.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2021
We’ll leave our gloves, with their humble histories, just as they are, somewhat unstrung by time and use, like us.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2021
A whole row of unstrung bows in varying stages of repair or build rested on a worktable, and hundreds of bushels of arrows were stacked into pyramids on the floor beside them.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
