unsew

[ uhn-soh ]

verb (used with object)

, un·sewed, un·sewn or un·sewed, un·sew·ing.

1. to remove or rip the stitches of (something sewed).

Word History and Origins

Origin of unsew¹

First recorded in 1300–50, unsew is from the Middle English word unsouwen. See un- ², sew ¹

Example Sentences

The host was tempted to unsew the valise.

From Project Gutenberg

The phalanges of the hands and feet, after being clean-scraped, were restored to their places, and wrapped with thin layers of arsenicated cotton, as is done to small animals, yet on the seventh day decomposition set in; it was found necessary to unsew the skin, and again to turn it inside out.

From Project Gutenberg

The keeper of the cross-roads store, being down on him because of his ideas, refused him any more credit; and so poor Lizzie was driven to do what she had vowed never to do—take off the stocking from her right leg, and unsew the bandage from her ankle, and extract one of the ten precious twenty-dollar bills.

From Project Gutenberg

Poor Eleeza Betooser—twice again she had been compelled to take down the stocking from her right leg, and unsew the bandage round her ankle, and extract another of those precious yellow twenty-dollar bills; there were only seven of them left now, and each of them was more valuable to Lizzie than her eye-teeth.

From Project Gutenberg

Could he say, "Please give me my wife's leg, so that I can undress it and unsew the bandage and get the money that I was paid for keeping quiet about the surgical operation on Lacey Granitch, that was done in my house before it was blown to pieces by the explosion."

From Project Gutenberg