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Glite Dictionary
to unharness

to unharness

1 7.2
To take off the straps and gear that connect a horse or other working animal to a vehicle
  • verb
  • /ʌnˈhɑrnəs/
translation icon : desensillar
  • On one farm that he passed, a woman, a dog, and a small boy were bringing in the cows; in the driveway of the barn, he could see a man unharnessing a team of mules.
  • unharnessed the horses

Examples

  • The farmer quickly unharnessed the draft animals to let them graze in the field.

  • He steps down from the wagon, unharnesses the horse, and leads the horse to its stall.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I unharnessed my dog.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • But before you eat, you can help me finish unharnessing the horses, how's that? - Ma'am? - Yes?

    The Proud Rebel (1958)

  • The moujik unharnessed his horse and set it free to graze; meanwhile, he laid himself down on one of the graves.

    Blog text (13)

  • They led the horse back to the barn, unharnessed him, and started to bridle him in preparation for Ruby's trading trip.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • After a long day of work, he unharnessed the horse and gave it a much-needed rest.

  • Before taking the horse back to the stable, she carefully unharnessed it from the cart.

Synonyms

to outspan
vsto unharness
  • Archaic
9.9

To remove the harness or straps from working animals to let them rest

remove gear from animals in general without focusing on rest
to unrein
vsto unharness
9.9

To take the reins or other ties off something so it can move

remove gear from animals without aiming mainly to increase freedom

Antonyms

to harness
8 3.8

Put straps on an animal to attach it to a cart or plow

Surface Forms

unharness infinitive
unharnessed past
unharnessed past participle
unharnessing present participle
unharnesses third person singular

Morphology

unharness = harness (transparent) = un + harness

Meaning is the straightforward negation/reversal of 'harness' (remove what was harnessed), so learners who know 'harness' and the prefix 'un-' can infer the meaning.

Etymology

The word unharness begins with un-, which means 'remove', and the rest is harness, the gear you put on a horse or dog to pull a cart or sled. So to unharness is to take that gear off an animal and free it to rest.