UNTIE (untying)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: untying   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does untie mean? 

• UNTIE (verb)
  The verb UNTIE has 2 senses:

1. undo the ties of

2. cause to become loose

  Familiarity information: UNTIE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNTIE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they untie    ... he / she / it unties   
Past simple: untied   
Past participle: untied   
-ing form: untying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Undo the ties of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

unbrace; unlace; untie

Context example:

They untied the prisoner

Hypernyms (to "untie" is one way to...):

undo (cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "untie"):

unloose; unloosen (loosen the ties of)

unlash (untie the lashing of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They want to untie the prisoners

Antonym:

tie (fasten or secure with a rope, string, or cord)

Derivation:

untier (a person who unfastens or unwraps or opens)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to become loose

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

loosen; undo; untie

Context example:

loosen the necktie

Hypernyms (to "untie" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

untier (a person who unfastens or unwraps or opens)

untying (loosening the ties that fasten something)

 Context examples 

They sat me down in a chair, untied my neck-cloth, and brought me some water.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He would stand up, with open eyes, and he would struggle and toil and learn until, with eyes unblinded and tongue untied, he could share with her his visioned wealth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She conducted me to her own chair, and then began to remove my shawl and untie my bonnet-strings; I begged she would not give herself so much trouble.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Then the other pretended to give way, and said, “Thou must let the sack of wisdom descend, by untying yonder cord, and then thou shalt enter.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

In an instant I had caught him round the waist, and held him up while Holmes and Pycroft untied the elastic bands which had disappeared between the livid creases of skin.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Another night; and in the morning, being more rational, he untied the leather string that fastened the squat moose-hide sack.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The master horse ordered a sorrel nag, one of his servants, to untie the largest of these animals, and take him into the yard.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She saw their sashes untied, their hair pulled about their ears, their work-bags searched, and their knives and scissors stolen away, and felt no doubt of its being a reciprocal enjoyment.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Adele seemed scarcely to need the warning—she had already retired to a sofa with her treasure, and was busy untying the cord which secured the lid.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Master Davy,” said Peggotty, untying her bonnet with a shaking hand, and speaking in a breathless sort of way.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)