untie

un- +‎ tie

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

untie (third-person singular simple present unties, present participle untying, simple past and past participle untied)

1. (transitive) To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of.

   to untie a knot

   • (Can we date this quote?), Waller:

     Sacharissa's captive fain / Would untie his iron chain.

2. (transitive) To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
   • c. 1605, Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 4, scene 1:

     Though you untie the winds, and let them fight / Against the churches.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Jeremy Taylor:

     All the evils of an untied tongue we put upon the accounts of drunkenness.

3. To resolve; to unfold; to clear.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Denham:

     They quicken sloth, perplexities untie.

4. (intransitive) To become untied or loosed.

• tie

• unite