a1475 ( S. Scrope tr. Dicts & Sayings Philosophers (Bodl. 943) (1999) 242 (MED) The tunge is as the dore of the cofer of wisdome..men schulde kepe the key, that is to say the tunge, more bisily froo vnclosinge þan his golde or his siluer.

1599 J. Minsheu Percyvall's Dict. Spanish & Eng. sig. A3^v Abertúra, an opening,..an vnclosing of that which was close.

1666 tr. G. Leti Life Donna Olimpia Maldachini 108 He..would have it so; that in the unclosing of his Fist, as he used to call it, all the most considerable benefits should go to Prince Camillo.

1706 J. Stevens New Spanish Dict. ii. at Unclose An Unclosing of that which was shut, Abertúra, Desencerradúra.

1839 E. A. Poe William Wilson in Gift 1840 (Philadelphia) 243 The violent, although partial unclosing of the door.

1874 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 690 The unclosing of the potential parts of a plant in its development from a germ.

1945 Jrnl. Mammalogy 26 154 The closing and unclosing of the eyelids.

2014 N. Kompridis Aesthetic Turn in Polit. Thought vi. 166 I prefer to think of receptivity as an unclosing of oneself.

1640 O. Sedgwick Christs Counsell 98 Hee stands under the ordinances with more distractions, with lesse attentions, with an unclosing spirit.

1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 6 Where the minde and person pleases aptly, there some unaccomplishment of the bodies delight may be better born with, then when the minde hangs off in an unclosing disproportion.

1735 J. Thomson Rome: 3rd Pt. Liberty 11 A Guardian Genius, o'er the Publick Weal, Kept an unclosing Eye.

1863 Temple Bar Apr. 59 An undecided mouth, slightly rabbit-shaped, with unclosing lips and large buck-teeth.

1945 R. Payne Chinese Soldier 30 At night the dead were stored in the corridors, with no sheets or lint to cover their glazed unclosing eyes.

1994 H. Mantel Change of Climate vii. 218 In summer, under the sun's unclosing eye, the landscape seemed flattened, two-dimensional.

1661 S. Pordage Mundorum Explicatio i. 70 He awakes, and his unclosing eyes Rubbs with his hand.

1792 J. Barlow Conspiracy of Kings 159 The hour is come, the world's unclosing eyes Discern with rapture where its wisdom lies.

1831 T. L. Peacock Crotchet Castle iv. 62 The Captain anxiously watched the unclosing door for the form of his beloved.

a1954 W. C. R. Watson Handbk. Rubi Great Brit. & Ireland (1958) Introd. 19 Note should be taken of any point required for identification that will not show in the dried specimen, such as the colour of the unclosing petals.

1992 J. Booth P. Larkin v. 166 The unclosing hand recalls the welcoming palm of ‘Uncontradicting solitude’ into which the poet relaxed in ‘Best Society’.