| 释义 |
unsew, v.
[un-2 3.]
1. trans. To undo the sewing of (a garment, etc.); to remove the stitches from.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 48 Heo wolde vn-souwen hire smok and setten þer an here. 1382Wyclif Lev. xiii. 45 He shal haue his clothis vnsewyd [L. dissuta], the heed nakid, the mouth couered with the cloothe. 1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. xxxix. 54/1 He commaunded hym to doo thynges agaynst reason, as..to unsowe his gowne, and after to sowe it agayne. 1552Huloet, Vnsow,..resuo. 1611Cotgr., Descoudre, to vnsowe, vndoe stitches. 1712tr. De Marolles' Mem. 104 A pair of Old-Shooes unsew'd on both Sides. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Marroquin, The Skins..are taken out, drain'd on a Rack, unsewed, the Sumac taken out [etc.]. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. x. ⁋14, I often observed the old man at work upon his pillow, unsewing and sewing it up again. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxiv, When she unsewed herself, and let out of her dress all those..valuables which she had secreted in the wadding.
fig.1340Ayenb. 184 Salomon þus zayþ: ‘þer no guod red ne ys, þet uolk to-ualþ and is al onzauwed. 1620Shelton Quix. ii. lx. 411 Sancho was amazed, and purposed not to vnsow his lips, as long as he was in that company. 1661Feltham Resolves ii. xliii. 268 Even in those [friendships] that have been ill contracted, Cato's advice is good, They are rather to be unsewed then cut. 1853Reade Chr. Johnstone 181 Time was to be given him to unsew a connection which he could not cut asunder.
2. To unwrap, uncover, set free, by the removal of stitches.
1390Gower Conf. III. 315 Thei founde A bodi ded, which was bewounde In cloth of gold..Unsowed was the bodi sone. 1692O. Walker Grk. & Rom. Hist. 270 Bacchus being born in Arabia, or rather unsowed from the Thigh of his Mother Semele. 1740Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 113 So I took off my undercoat, and..unsewed them [sc. papers] from it.
Hence unˈsewer; unˈsewing vbl. n.
1611Cotgr. s.vv. Descouseur, Descousure. |