ravel

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To separate the fibers or threads of (cloth, for example); unravel.
2. v. To clarify by separating the aspects of.
3. v. To tangle or complicate.
4. v. To become separated into its component threads; unravel or fray.
5. v. To become tangled or confused.
6. n. A raveling.
7. n. A broken or discarded thread.
8. n. A tangle.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To tangle; entangle; entwine confusedly; involve in a tangled or knotted mass, as thread or hair mingled together loosely.
2. Hence To involve; perplex; confuse.
3. To treat confusedly; jumble; muddle.
4. To disentangle; disengage the threads or fibers of (a woven or knitted fabric, a rope, a mass of tangled hair, etc.); draw apart thread by thread; unravel: commonly with out: in this sense (the exact contrary of the first sense), originally with out, ravel out being equivalent to unravel.
5. To become entangled or snarled, as the ends of loose and dangling threads, or a mass of loose hair.
6. Hence To become involved or confused; fall into perplexity.
7. To curl up, as a hard-twisted thread.
8. To become untwisted or disjoined, as the outer threads of a loosely made fabric or the strands of a rope; become disjoined thread by thread; fray, as a garment at the edges: commonly with out.
9. Hence To suffer gradual disintegration or decay.
10. To make a minute and careful examination in order to straighten what is confused, unfold what is hidden, or clear up what is obscure; investigate; search; explore.
11. n. A raveled thread; a raveling.
12. n. plural The broken threads cast away by women at their needlework.
13. n. In weaving, a serrated instrument for guiding the separate yarns when being distributed and wound upon the yarn-beam of a loom, or for guiding the yarns wound on a balloon; an evener; a separator.
14. n. Also, in Scotch spelling, raivel.
15. Same as rabble.
16. n. A snarl; a complication.

Wiktionary

1. v. To pull apart (especially cloth or a seam); unravel.
2. v. To clarify by separation into simpler pieces.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To separate or undo the texture of; to unravel; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out
2. v. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.
3. v. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve.
4. v. To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy.
5. v. To fall into perplexity and confusion.
6. v. To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. disentangle.
2. n. a row of unravelled stitches
3. n. French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)
4. v. tangle or complicate