unmeshv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈmɛʃ/, U.S. /ˌənˈmɛʃ/ 1. transitive. To disentangle (literal and figurative). Cf. mesh v. 1.
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the world > action or operation > easiness > find no difficulty in [verb (transitive)] > make easy or easier > make free of hindrances or encumberment > from contact or entanglement
unwrap1561
clear1591
disentangle1598
disinvolve1611
disimplicate1660
unmesh1844
1844 B. Street in H. G. Adams Flowers 114 The touch of the river, Rapid and fresh, Makes the light boughs quiver, As they unmesh The water-lily.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 54 They had gone back to their daily work, thinking still their business lay net-wards, unmeshed from the literal rope and drag.
1910 Bookman July 498/1 The author has deftly unmeshed ‘the carefully cultivated self of the Blue Stockings from their intricacy of words’.
1951 J. Agee Morning Watch ii. 64 He took two vases of those which were dying, unmeshing them with great care from among the others.
2011 Sunday Times (Nexis) 11 Dec. (Features) 2 I..managed to mesh my hands together as though I were praying. This helped to relax them, but I then found I could not unmesh them.
2. transitive. To undo the meshes of (a net). Also figurative. Cf. mesh v. 3.
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the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > loosening or unfastening > loosen, unfasten, or untie [verb (transitive)] > untwist, unravel, etc.
untwinec1407
unlacea1450
untwindc1460
untwist1538
unweave1542
distwine1562
feaze1568
unpleat1572
unspin1587
unplat1589
unwreathe1591
unreave1593
unravel1603
ravel1607
unwrithe1611
uncluea1616
unwork1623
unperplex1660
untwirla1703
unlay1726
disentwine1814
unbraid1828
unmesha1849
disintertwine1861
unplait1865
tiffle out1880
unleeze1889
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Poems (1851) I. 138 Hands of eternal stone, which would unmesh And fray this starry company of orbs.
1891 C. E. Norton tr. Dante Divine Comedy II. xxi. 136 I see the net which snares you here, and how it is unmeshed.
1912 ‘R. Dehan’ Between Two Thieves lxxxii. 562 I will unmesh the net I have woven.
1989 F. P. Ellison & N. Lindstrom tr. H. P. Cunha Woman between Mirrors xxx. 109 Little by little, I've been untying a knot, loosening a noose, unmeshing a net, finally there's nothing to tie me down.
3. transitive. To remove or empty out (fish) from the meshes of a net. Also occasionally intransitive. Cf. mesh v. 2a.
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1849 Royal Cornwall Gaz. 15 June 6/5 Fishing boats might unmesh at sea, drop the fish almost immediately into baskets, and land them at once on the pier.
1862 Sessional Papers Province of Canada (7th Parl., 1st Sess.) III. No. 11 If they are not very soon unmeshed, at least during the twenty-four hours following their capture, they spoil, and will not keep, even in the strongest pickle.
1886 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. VIII. 188 He was consoled and rejoiced and busied himself with unmeshing the fish and casting them on the earth.
1969 Fisheries Techn. Rep. (N.Z. Ministry Agric.) No. 40. 15 The two crew members..were responsible for..guiding the net on to the reel when hauling, and unmeshing the catch.
2001 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 22 Mar. 25 She brought her own wet-weather gear, he says, impressed, and helped unmesh fish.
4.
a. intransitive. Of the teeth of a cog, a gear, etc.: to disengage. Cf. mesh v. 4a.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > wheel > of wheel: operate [verb (intransitive)] > actions of specific parts
mesh1850
unmesh1873
straddle1875
1873 U.S. Patent 140,737 in Specif. & Drawings Patents 350/2 The pawl R unmeshes from the tooth sector K.
1928 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 59/3 When the plane's engine starts, the device automatically unmeshes and slides clear.
1986 Financial Post (Canada) (Nexis) 22 Dec. (Inside Business) 26 You can almost see the carefully cut gears and synchros meshing and unmeshing under your right hand.
2009 D. Patrick & S. Fardo Industr. Process Control Syst. (ed. 2) iii. 99 The gear teeth unmesh at the inlet port and remesh at the discharge port.
b. transitive. To cause (a gear, cog, etc.) to become disengaged. Cf. mesh v. 4a.
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1880 U.S. Patent 228,543 2/2 A stop..prevents the sector from turning far enough to unmesh the gearing.
1886 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 2 Oct. The gears..should be wide enough on the face to allow the lateral movement of the stone without unmeshing the teeth of the gears.
1920 H. W. Slauson & H. Greene Everyman's Guide to Motor Efficiency 175 In the old ‘progressive’ system of gearshifting it was necessary..in changing from high to low speed to mesh and unmesh the intermediate gears on the way.
2000 J. C. Rawlins Basic AC Circuits (ed. 2) 183/1 With air capacitators, capacitance is varied by meshing and unmeshing the capacitator plate.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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