unbosom

Verb

unbosom (third-person singular simple present unbosoms, present participle unbosoming, simple past and past participle unbosomed)

1. (ambitransitive, archaic) To tell someone about (one's troubles), and thus obtain relief.
   • Their several counsels they unbosom shall
     To loves mistook, and so be mock'd withal
     Upon the next occasion that we meet,
     With visages displayed, to talk and greet.1594, Willam Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act V, scene 2, line 2040
   • At first Puddock was reserved, but recollecting that he had been left quite free to tell whom he pleased, he made up his mind to unbosom; and suggested, for the sake of quiet and a longer conversation, that they should go round by the ferry.1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
2. (archaic, reflexive) To free (oneself) of the burden of one's troubles by telling of them.
   • Sometimes there is a breach-of-promise case by and by; and when he sees his letter in print it makes him cruelly uncomfortable and he perceives that he never would have unbosomed himself to that large and honest degree if he had known that he was writing for the public.1924, Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Autobiography, New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, Preface, Volume 1
   • Watt was not the first to whom Mr Graves had unbosomed himself, in this connexion. For he had unbosomed himself to Arsene, many years before […]1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Paris: Olympia Press, →OL
3. (archaic) To confess a misdeed.