unreeve
unreeve verb: to withdraw or take out, as for example a rope from a block.
Verb
unreeve (third-person singular simple present unreeves, present participle unreeving, simple past and past participle unreeved)
- To withdraw or take out, as for example a rope from a block.
- He could not only splice a broken "fall," and repair the sheaves and friction-rollers in a hoisting-block, but whenever the rigging got tangled aloft he could spring up the derrick like a cat and unreeve the rope in an instant.1896, F. Hopkinson Smith, Tom Grogan
- But he carried all sail till the rotten main-sheet parted at the boom, and when he came up in the wind to lower the sail the main throat halyard refused to unreeve.1909, A. W. Dimock, Dick in the Everglades
Forms of unreeve
| third-person singular present | unreeves |
|---|---|
| present participle | unreeving |
| past participle | unreeved |
| past | unreeved |
Origin of unreeve
From Middle English *unreven (attested only in past participle unrevyn) equivalent to un- + reeve.
Questions about unreeve
- What does unreeve mean?
- Unreeve means to withdraw or take out, as for example a rope from a block.
- What part of speech is unreeve?
- Unreeve is a verb.
- What is the past tense of unreeve?
- The past tense of unreeve is unreeved.
Words near unreeve in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unreeve (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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Cite this entry: “unreeve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unreeve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.