| 释义 |
unˈseal, v.
[un-2 3, 4. Cf. MDu. ontsegelen, (Du. -zegelen), OHG. intsigilan (MHG. entsigelen, G. -siegeln).]
1. trans. To remove a seal from, to break the seal of (a letter, etc.).
c1425Seven Sag. (P.) 1054 His emys bokes he vnselde. c1425Audelay XI Pains Hell 179 Þe angel..lad him to þe blak pit þo, With vij. selys was selid treuly... Anon he vnselid þe pit þore. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 275, I haue better newes in store for you Then you expect: vnseale this letter soone. 1666in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 23 He..resolved to unseale the bags. 1693Dryden Persius vi. 37 Nor yet [will I] unseal the Dregs of Wine that stink Of Cask. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. vii. 12 The long Lawyer's Plea unseals our Wills. 1791Cowper Odyss. iii. 495 Charging high the cup With wine of richest sort, which she..First broach'd, unsealing the delicious juice. 1818Coleridge in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. Introd. 33 Henceforward the book is unsealed for him; the depth is opened. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. i. Court-yard, Then was the family tomb unsealed. 1884Cassell's Fam. Mag. Mar. 203/1 The oven is then unsealed, and the coke withdrawn.
fig.1830Mrs. Hemans Songs Affec., Spirit's Return i, This long-shut heart for thee shall be unseal'd.
2. fig.
a. To free from some constraining influence; to allow free action to.
1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 59 She ought to shut vp her dores, and solemnize continuall night, till her husband, her sunne, making a happie return, vnsealeth her silence. 1652Benlowes Theoph. i. lxxxviii, Renew my heart, direct my tongue, unseal My hand. 1826Mrs. Hemans Forest Sanctuary ii. xxx, When stars..are shining, How their soft glance unseals each thought of thee! 1847Emerson Compensation ii, And why when mirth unseals all tongues Should mine alone be dumb?
b. To free from the condition (or necessity) of remaining closed. (Cf. seal v.1 6 b.)
With reference to the eyes (b) probably in part replacing unseel v.
(a)a1586Sidney Arcadia i. ii, I pray you (said Musidorus, then first unsealing his long silent lips) what countries be these? 1621Quarles Div. Poems, Esther iii, Memucan..Vnseal'd his serious lips, and thus bespake. 1815Scott Guy M. xli, Speaking as if his utmost efforts were unable to unseal his lips beyond the width of a quarter of an inch. 1852Merivale Rom. Emp. (ed. 2) iii. I. 129 Cicero's mouth was unsealed. 1884Manch. Exam. 24 Nov. 5/2 Gladstone..is therefore extremely anxious that his lips should..be unsealed.
(b)1652Benlowes Theoph. xi. xxx, Still to have toting waits unseal thine eyes. 1700Dryden Ovid's Met., Ceyx & Alcyone 303 The God disturb'd with this new Glare of Light.., unseal'd his Sight. 1725Pope Odyss. xv. 8 In sleep profound the Son of Nestor lies; Not thine, Ulysses! Care unseal'd his eyes. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 364 Others 'neath rueful Tartarus he sends; Grants slumbers, and withdraws [them], and the eyes At death unseals. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xiii. 333 The discovery of that patron's baseness..acts like a talisman to unseal his eyes.
3. To disclose, reveal.
1640Fletcher, etc. Coronation ii. i, If this preserve thee not, I must unseal Another mistery. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. iii. 147 He the future hath unsealed.
Hence unˈsealer; unˈsealing vbl. n.
1683Jane Lead Revelation (title-p.), An Essay towards the Unsealing, Opening and Discovering The Seven Seals. 1844Lowell Leg. Brittany ii. xxii, Remembering when he stood Not fallen yet, the unsealer of her heart. 1895W. Watson Hymn to Sea i, While, with throes, with raptures, with loosing of bonds, with unsealings,—Youth..wakes like a wondering rose. |