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
Mrs. Bowen broke out again with a sort of violence; the years teach us something of self-control, perhaps, but they weaken and unstring the nerves.
From Indian Summer by Howells, William Dean
"Co-Tan," he said, "unstring your bow—these are my friends, and yours."
From Out of Time's Abyss by Burroughs, Edgar Rice
Away then to loosen, to unstring the divine bow, so tense, so long.
From Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Whitman, Walt
If I had, I might ha' whistled for another, for my father wasn't quite so ready to unstring as some other fathers I know of.
From Silas Marner by Eliot, George
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
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.)
The archers, flushed and merry, were unstringing their bows once more, for in spite of the water glue the damp air took the strength from the cords.
From Sir Nigel by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
"Maybe it's too early yet for the unstringing to begin!"
From The Virginian, a Horseman of the Plains by Wister, Owen
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
He also said he carried an unstrung archery bow “to signify his peaceful intent.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2022
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
He was looking very much like the unstrung self who had picked me up from the airport.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
