Word.ws English Dictionary

unclew

unclew verb: to unwind, unfold, unravel or untie.

Verb

unclew (third-person singular simple present unclews, present participle unclewing, simple past and past participle unclewed)

  1. (also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) To unwind, unfold, unravel or untie.
    • unclewing ropes and disentangling knots1830, George Payne Rainsford James, Darnley: Or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold
    • unclewing the inmost mysteries of the bed-chamber1877, Arthur Evans, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection, August and September 1875
  2. (archaic, figuratively, transitive) To undo; to ruin.
    • If I should pay you for't as 'tis extoll'd,
      It would unclew me quitec. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Forms of unclew

third-person singular presentunclews
present participleunclewing
past participleunclewed
pastunclewed

Origin of unclew

From un- + clew.

Questions about unclew

What does unclew mean?
Unclew means to unwind, unfold, unravel or untie.
What part of speech is unclew?
Unclew is a verb.
What is the past tense of unclew?
The past tense of unclew is unclewed.

Words near unclew in the dictionary

  1. uncleship
  2. uncleships
  3. unclever
  4. uncleverly
  5. uncleverness
  6. unclew
  7. unclewed
  8. unclewing
  9. unclews
  10. uncley
  11. uncleys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unclew (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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