Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive & intransitive verb To unravel or undo (something knit or tied) or become unraveled or undone.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To untie, as a knot; unwrinkle or smooth out; undo, as knitted work.
  • To become separated; relax.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To undo or unravel what is knitted together.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To unravel.
  • verb To undo knitted stitches by reversing the knitting motion.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ knit

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Examples

  • It will probably be unknit as soon as I can figure out what else to do with it.

    Presents Knits (...and other things too) Presents 2008

  • It will probably be unknit as soon as I can figure out what else to do with it.

    Archive 2008-12-01 Presents 2008

  • Ouuu, I been in there all that time, you nasty man. iv When I saw her come out of that box like a disinterred corpse out of a crypt, I felt a terrible, helpless horror come stealing through me, beginning at the heart and radiating outward, threatening to first loosen all my muscles and then unknit them completely.

    Duma Key King, Stephen, 1947- 2008

  • He scarcely appeared half his usual height; his joints were unknit, his limbs would not support him; his face was contracted, his eye wandering; debility of purpose and dastard fear were expressed in every gesture.

    The Last Man 2003

  • Creslin's eyebrows knit and unknit, but he says nothing, suspecting that any answer will get him in deeper trouble.

    The Towers of the Sunset Modesitt, L. E. 1992

  • _ Because the knot was knit by faith, and must only be unknit of death.

    The Growth of English Drama Arnold Wynne

  • _ If they be true love knots 'tis unpossible to unknit them; if false, I never tied them.

    The Growth of English Drama Arnold Wynne

  • The most dolorous of all moral tragedies knit and unknit the most often in silence.

    The French Immortals Series — Complete Various

  • Faith and hope in these doctrines as cherished by woman are the sheet anchors of our unknit civilizations.

    Woman on the American Frontier William Worthington Fowler

  • Labor is pain to the soft fibers and unknit limbs of childhood, and to the impressible minds of the young, danger conveys a thousand fears not felt by the firmer natures of older persons.

    Woman on the American Frontier William Worthington Fowler

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