Word: ravel Part of Speech: verb Etymology: The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as “very uncertain”, and instead regards the noun as having derived from the verb (compare Dutch rafel, raffel (“frayed thread”)). Ravel is a contranym having both the senses of tangling (verb senses 1.1, 1.2, 1.4.1, and 2.3; noun sense 1) and untangling (verb senses 1.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 2.1, and 2.2; noun sense 2). It would appear that the tangling senses predate the untangling ones (as in Dutch), but this is uncertain because the first published uses of both senses of the words occur around the same time. Pronunciation: /ˈɹævəl/, [ˈɹævl̩] 1. To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle. Labels: transitive Example: For the faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or ravelled and entangled in weak discourses, or so false and fallacious by its mixture of interest, that though men usually put most confidences in the pretences of faith, yet no pretences are most unreasonable. Example: When paſſive Thouſands ſtretch beneath his Sword, / And freely die at his Imperial Word, / Thoſe wild, unhappy, ſelf-defending Few, / If not deſtroy'd in Time, will ravel all the Clew; […] 2. Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit. Labels: also, figuratively, transitive Example: [Magazine staffer about his political team:] Pencils at the ready, keen brains agleam behind intelligent horn rims, these experts spread out to ravel the loose ends of White-Housing, web-spinning spiders for [the presidential candidate]. 3. To unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to fray, to unpick, to unravel; also, to pull out (a string of yarn, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel. Labels: transitive Example: [Y]ou ſhall haue one vvoman knit more in a hovver then any man can Rauell agen in ſeauen and tvventy yeare. Example: If there be any fault in the verses, I can mend it extempore; for a stitch in a man's stocking not taken up in time, ravels out all the rest. 4. To confuse or perplex (someone or something). Labels: figuratively, transitive 5. Often followed by out: to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.); to clarify, to disentangle. Labels: archaic, figuratively, transitive Example: Make you to rouell^([sic]) all this matter out / That I eſſentially am not in madneſſe, / But mad in craft, […] 6. To destroy or ruin (something), like unravelling fabric. Labels: figuratively, obsolete, transitive Example: [S]helter, ſhelter, if you be ſeene / All's ravell'd out agen: ſtand there private, / And you'le find the very opportunity / To call you forth, and place you at the Table. 7. In the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector. Labels: transitive 8. Often followed by out: of a reel of thread or skein of yarn; or a thread on a reel or a string of yarn in a skein, etc.: to become untwisted or unwound. Labels: intransitive Example: [G]ive him a broad ſide my brave boyes with your Pikes, branch me his ſkin in Flovvers like a Sattin, and betvveene ever Flovver a mortall cut, your Royalty ſhall ravell, […] Example: [S]plit that forked ſtick with ſuch a nick or notch at one end of it, as may keep the line from any more of it ravelling from about the ſtick, then ſo much of it as you intended; […] 9. Often followed by out: of clothing, fabric, etc.: to become unwoven; to fray, to unravel. Labels: also, figuratively, intransitive Example: But the real work of the First Thursday Foundation is remembering, and its biggest gift is knitting back together lives raveled by loss. 10. To become entangled or snarled. Labels: archaic, intransitive, obsolete Example: [A]s you vnwinde her loue from him; / Least it ſhould rauell, and be good to none, / You muſt prouide to bottome it on me: / Which muſt be done, by praiſing me as much / As you, in worth diſpraiſe, ſir Valentine. Example: Yet more there be who doubt his ways not juſt, / As to his edicts, found contradicting, / Then give the rains to wandring thought, / Regardleſs of his glories diminution; / Till by their own perplexities involv'd / They ravel more, ſtill less reſolv'd, / But never find ſelf-ſatisfying ſolution.