to unhook the latch
1
5.0
- phrasal verb
:
desenganchar el pestillo
- She quickly unhooked the latch, allowing the cat to escape into the garden.
Examples
-
Before leaving the house, make sure to unhook the latch on the door.
-
Garth pounced on the cage and unhooked the latch.
Fiction book (1995) -
To access the storage room, you need to unhook the latch on the gate.
Synonyms
82
5.3
To stop being part of or connected to something
41
2.7
To take something off from where it is attached
35
2.5
To take something off where it hangs, like a coat or necklace
16
4.0
To come apart from something it is connected to
7
3.2
Open something by lifting or releasing a small catch that holds it closed
5
3.4
To open something by undoing a button or zipper
4
5.7
To take off something that is attached to another thing, like a trailer or bicycle
3
5.6
To open something held closed by a small metal catch or let go of something you were holding
To release a catch or latch, for example a seatbelt
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'unhook' (to take off something that is hooked) combined with 'latch' (a mechanical fastener) yields a direct, literal action: removing a hook or fastening from a latch. This is a straightforward verb + object composition following regular English patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should understand it.
Etymology
Unhook the latch comes from the simple action of taking the hook off a latch so a gate or window can open. That's why it means 'to release' or 'disengage' the fastening.