unstring

Verb

unstring (third-person singular simple present unstrings, present participle unstringing, simple past and past participle unstrung)

1. (transitive) To remove the string or strings from.
   • Unstring the bows before storing them.
   • When he looked at her neck he was reminded of how difficult it was to unstring a turkey.2001, Graham Greene, Twenty-one Stories, →ISBN, page 30
2. (transitive) To shake the nerves of; to cause anxiety or panic in.
   • [T]he monſter, rouſed by the noiſe, ſtarted forward, preſented ſuch a viſage of horror, and raiſed ſuch a hideous roar, that the hearts of the bold were contracted, and the nerves of the valiant unſtrung.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 6
   • The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me […]1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, Olalla
3. To defuse or relax.
   • In the mean time, the same, or a similar end, may be attained, in the 2d PLACE, By splitting a duty on a commodity, so as to unstring the stimulus to smuggle, while we preserve the same, or perhaps require a greater amount, from the same subject than we had before.1791, Andrew Hamilton, An Enquiry Into the Principles of Taxation
   • Society can unstring the tension of sublimation only by lifting the barrier completely, that is, by abandoning the idea that illicit eros must not be gratified; society does not unstring the tension by silently countenancing individual gratifications.2002, Paul W. Ludwig, Eros and Polis: Desire and Community in Greek Political Theory, →ISBN, page 254
4. To remove from a string; to release something that has been strung up or strung together.
   • "Poke a hole in the tops and bottoms of these eggs, blow out the yolks and whites, unstring the diamonds and stick them through the holes..."1988, Eileen Christelow, The Robbery at the Diamond Dog Diner, →ISBN
   • Look at them for 10 seconds, and then unstring them and try to put the beads back in their right order.2004, Mandy Hager, Help, My Brain Hurts!
5. To untie.
   • Invaded thus, for want of better bands, His garland they unstring, and bind his hands1773, John Dryden, Original poems by John Dryden, Esq - Volume 5, page 69
   • He is now e'en trying to unstring the tie of virtue, in yon poor cottager's daughter!1840, John N. Smith, Ramanzo: The Conscience Stricken Brigand.
6. (transitive) To split (a text string) into smaller strings by separating on a delimiter.
   • It is also possible to save the delimiters (this might prove useful if the delimiters were also some sort of text identifier) and to count the length of the data items we are unstringing.1980, Norman R. Lyons, Structured Cobol for Data Processing

   Synonyms:

   explode, split