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Glite Dictionary
📽️ To unfold 🧵 To unwind
to unspool

to unspool

1 6.3
To unwind thread or tape from a spool
  • verb
  • /ʌnˈspuːl/
translation icon : desenrollar
  • Her right arm is bent over her dark face, so he unspools the tape from her shoulder at the same point.
  • unspooled the tape
  • unspooled the line
  • ribbon begins to unspool

Examples

  • The opening sequences of both Dark Knight films also unspooled on IMAX screens in the December before their wide release, the former in front of Will Smith's I Am Legend, the latter in front of Bird's Mission: Impossible 4.

    Blog text (17)

  • Above us all, green and white fireworks unspool like spider webs.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • It's late afternoon, so I go outside and unspool the hose to do my watering.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Unspool it carefully.

    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

  • But the line continued to unspool, the sharp ratchet of the reel clicking faster than she'd ever heard it.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • At the beginning of Happy Valley, trunks of river birch unspooled into cinnamon.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The film, set to open this year's Doha Tribeca International Film Festival Saturday evening, unspooled to the international and local media, sparking a lively response.

    Blog text (30)

  • Trees went by on the twin shorelines like a landscape unspooling endlessly from one reel to another.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • It clicks on, unspools...

    Fiction book (1997)

  • I need to unspool the garden hose before I can water the plants.

Synonyms

to reel
vsto unspool
54 3.4

To wind something onto or off a spool

focuses only on releasing from a round holder rather than both directions
to unwind
vsto unspool
5 3.7

Make a wrapped or twisted thing loose and straight

refers specifically to releasing from a round holder rather than general untangling
to uncoil
vsto unspool
3 3.7

To make something that is rolled or curled become straight

applies to releasing from a wound holder rather than straightening loops
to unreel
vsto unspool
1 7.4

To pull a line or cable from a reel

is used for releasing from small round holders not general untangling
to reel off
vsto unspool
5.8

Pull something off a reel or spool

is mainly the same but emphasizes continuous unrolling action

Antonyms

to spool
1 5.8

To wind thread, wire, or tape onto a small cylinder for storage

How Much

to unwind
5 3.7
to unspool
1 6.3
to let out
344 1.1
wound
8 7.7

Surface Forms

unspool infinitive
unspooled past
unspooled past participle
unspooling present participle
unspools third person singular

Morphology

unspool = spool (transparent) = un + spool

The verb is formed by productive prefixation un- (meaning 'reverse') applied to the verb 'spool'; the literal sense is directly recoverable.

Etymology

Unspool comes from the parts un- meaning 'reverse' and spool, the round object that holds thread or film, so it originally meant 'to take something off a spool' and unwind it.