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Untie   Listen
verb
Untie  v. t.  (past & past part. untied; pres. part. untying)  
1.
To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of; as, to untie a knot. "Sacharissa's captive fain Would untie his iron chain." "Her snakes untied, sulphurous waters drink."
2.
To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind. "Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches." "All the evils of an untied tongue we put upon the accounts of drunkenness."
3.
To resolve; to unfold; to clear. "They quicken sloth, perplexities untie."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Untie" Quotes from Famous Books



... leave the raft tied up under the bridge. What would be easier than to untie it, and there ...
— The Hero of Garside School • J. Harwood Panting

... Whatever be the revolutionary state of man, similar principles and like occurrences are returning on us; and antiquity, whenever it is justly applicable to our times, loses its denomination, and becomes the truth of our own age. A proverb will often cut the knot which others in vain are attempting to untie. Johnson, palled with the redundant elegancies of modern composition, once said, "I fancy mankind may come in time to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connexion, and ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli

... ball of Canadian and American notes, crushed and tangled together like papers of no value. He smoothed them out, flattening them upon his knee one by one, and, having counted them over, rolled them up tidily, and thrust them to the bottom of the brown bag. Next, he began to untie the cords which fastened the canvas bale, muttering 'Damn the thing!' at intervals, as the knots refused to yield to his unskilful handling. Finally, when the work was two-thirds done, he made search for a pen-knife, and, having found it, severed the remaining knots, ...
— Despair's Last Journey • David Christie Murray

... as shown elsewhere, probably has ah, ha, or hal as its phonetic equivalent, we have, as the elements of the word represented by the whole glyph (omitting the prefix), ch'-ch'ah. As choch (chochah), Perez, and chooch (choochah), Henderson, signify "to loosen, untie, disunite, detach," this may be the true interpretation of the symbol. The presence of the eye in a symbol appears, as a rule, to have no special significance, as is shown by its presence sometimes in the symbols for the days chicchan and oc. It is worthy ...
— Day Symbols of the Maya Year • Cyrus Thomas

... inquiry made by Dunroe, who, as there seems to be no heir, will get the property; for it goes, in that case, with Miss Gourlay. Every knot is more easily tied than untied. Let us produce the heir, then, before the property's disposed of, and then we won't have to untie the knot—to invalidate the marriage articles. So far, so good—that's our plan. But again, there's the baronet ill; should he die before we establish this youth's rights, think of our difficulty. And, thirdly, he's beginning to suspect our integrity, as he is pleased to call ...
— The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... gave no indication of life whatever, and was bent nearly double across a splinter of the windlass. Parker spoke to me when he saw me moving, and asked me if I had not sufficient strength to release him from his situation, saying that if I would summon up what spirits I could, and contrive to untie him, we might yet save our lives; but that otherwise we must all perish. I told him to take courage, and I would endeavor to free him. Feeling in my pantaloons' pocket, I got hold of my penknife, and, after several ineffectual attempts, at length succeeded in opening ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 3 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... in two different rooms. To Pompey I read the story of "Waste not, want not." To Julius, on the other hand, I spoke of the All-love of his great Mother Nature, and her profuse gifts to her children. Leaving him with grapes and oranges, I stepped back to Pompey, and taught him how to untie parcels so as to save the string. Leaving him winding the string neatly, I went back to Julius, and gave him ginger-cakes. The dear boys grew from year to year. They outgrew their knickerbockers, and had trousers. They outgrew their jackets, and became men; ...
— The Brick Moon, et. al. • Edward Everett Hale

... a word, walked to the stables, and went up close to the doors. I ordered the teamsters to drive to the stables, unharness from the heavy ox-wagons, place their teams inside, and if they could not find vacant stalls enough, to untie and turn loose mules to empty the required number for my teams. The teamsters obeyed by driving up, and when they had dismounted and were about to unhitch from the wagons, one of the wood-haulers at the stable door said: “You can save yourself the trouble, mister, of unhitching them mules, ...
— The Great Salt Lake Trail • Colonel Henry Inman

... shall hear more of this. Damn you, will you untie me? I will complain to the ambassador. I will write to the Gazette. England will blow your trumpery little fleet out of the water and sweep your tinpot army into Siberia for this. Will you let me go? Damn you! Curse you! What the devil do you mean by it? I'll—I'll—I'll— ...
— Great Catherine • George Bernard Shaw

... with his sister, and, after a furious conflict in his own mind, finally succumbs to his guilty passion. He is rescued from {133} the consequences of his weakness by the discovery that Panthea is not, in fact, his sister. But this is to cut the knot and not to untie it. It leaves the denouement to chance, and not to those moral forces through which Shakspere always wrought his conclusions. Arbaces has failed, and the piece of luck which keeps his failure innocent is rejected by every right-feeling ...
— Brief History of English and American Literature • Henry A. Beers

... generality of young men. Where, for instance, Herbert, Reynolds, and Van Tromp had, through indolence or hurry, passed over the Gordian knots which had occurred in the course of their studies, Sidney seems to have stopped, and sitten deliberately and patiently down, resolved not to cut but to untie them before he rose, so as not only to make himself master of the knowledge which they concealed, but to discover also how the knot came to be tied; whether it arose from the unavoidable difficulty ...
— Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller Tazewell • Hugh Blair Grigsby

... around. desafiar challenge, defy. desafo m. duel, combat. desahogo m. relief, alleviation, comfort. desalentado, -a discouraged, abject. desasirse disengage one's self, break loose, extricate one's self. desatar untie, undo, loosen, let loose; —se break loose, break out. desatento, -a unmindful, heedless, rude. desatino m. folly, wildness, reeling. descansar rest, repose, sleep. descarnado, -a emaciated, fleshless, bare. descender descend, go down, sink. descolorido, ...
— El Estudiante de Salamanca and Other Selections • George Tyler Northup

... "Then do but untie my hands and I will fight thee and thy men with no weapon but only my naked fists. I crave no weapon, but let me not be ...
— The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood • Howard Pyle

... off his coat and threw it on a chair with an air of assurance that seemed to increase Brent's anxiety, then began again to untie ...
— The Master Mystery • Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey

... words, and then my husband struck Motley on the head with his pistol and felled him, and then pointed it at the mate and the captain, and made them untie the men, and called to the two Tafito sailors who were in the boat to let ...
— By Reef and Palm • Louis Becke

... unwilling to climb! And unskilled in the subtleties of controversy, most innocent of the duplicities of unbelief, Faith saw her neighbour entangled, as it seemed, in a mesh of his own weaving and had not power to untie the knot. It distressed her. Other knots of skepticism or ignorance that he had presented to her she had cut easily with the sword of truth if she could not untie; he had offered her one to-day that she ...
— Say and Seal, Volume II • Susan Warner

... the jade. She has cost us two good horses already. Leave her in the road, bound as she is, and let us see if St. Guthlac her master will come and untie her." ...
— Hereward, The Last of the English • Charles Kingsley

... the clover field, felt certain of seeing the face of the young man who accompanied Remy, and thus putting an end to all his doubts. As they passed, unsuspicious of his vicinity, Diana was occupied in braiding up her hair, which she had not dared to untie at the inn. ...
— The Forty-Five Guardsmen • Alexandre Dumas

... when thou hast done it." And as Balthazar departed on his mission, with a glance of triumph in her eyes, Barbara exclaimed, "Soh, no sooner hath the thought possessed me, than the means of accomplishment appear. It shall be done at once. I will tie the knot. I will untie, and then retie it. This weak wench must be nerved to the task," added she, regarding the senseless form of Sybil. "Here is that will stimulate her," opening the cupboard, and taking a small phial; "this will fortify ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth

... therefore, as relates to simple existence, the Inductive Logic has no knots to untie. And we may proceed to the remaining two of the great classes into which facts have been divided; Resemblance, ...
— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill

... chair. Jan kicked it far back, out of reach. Rick scooped up the table and slid it along the floor at them. The table caught them like a pair of tenpins and knocked them into the corner. He turned back to Barby and started to untie her, ...
— The Electronic Mind Reader • John Blaine

... through his grand chamberlain, Matzke Bork, that if Sidonia were treated with gentleness, and thereby brought to make confession, assuredly there was great hope that for this grace and indulgence she would untie the magic knots of the girdle wherewith she had bewitched the whole princely race, and laid the spell of barrenness upon them. But if extreme measures were resorted to, never would she do ...
— Sidonia The Sorceress V2 • William Mienhold

... Untie these bands from off my hands, And bring to me my sword; And there's no a man in all Scotland, But I'll brave ...
— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham

... man now," said the little boy. "But it isn't our Splash. We wouldn't dast go out the front of the tent, Sue. But I could untie the flap ropes; ...
— Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony • Laura Lee Hope

... subjection to danger, and exposure to temptation, can show us what we are. By this test was I now tried, and found to be cowardly and rash. Men can deliberately untie the thread of life, and of this I had deemed myself capable; yet now that I stood upon the brink of fate, that the knife of the sacrificer was aimed at my heart, I shuddered and betook myself to any means of ...
— Wieland; or The Transformation - An American Tale • Charles Brockden Brown

... one. She had to go to Washington to arrange it. She has a friend at court in the shape of a senator who was once an intimate school chum of the President's. (We think he was one of her many bygone suitors. Isn't that romantic?) Among them they managed to untie enough red tape to let ...
— Mary Ware's Promised Land • Annie Fellows Johnston

... going to learn how to sew," said Lydia, rising to untie the baby's bib. "I'm practising on Florence Dombey. Mother had taught me straight seams and had just begun me ...
— Lydia of the Pines • Honore Willsie Morrow

... secret as the night. And I'm going to be married just now, yet did not know of it half an hour ago; and the lady stays for me, and does not know of it yet. There's a mystery for you: I know you love to untie difficulties. Or, if you can't solve this, stay here a quarter of an hour, and I'll come and explain ...
— Love for Love • William Congreve

... other side stand St. Lawrence and St. Stephen, pointing to the Christ and looking at us, as though their lips were framed to say: "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow." Even the soldiers who have done their cruel work seem softened. They untie the cords tenderly, and support the fainting form, too weak to stand alone. What sadness in the lovely faces of Sts. Catherine and Lawrence! What divine anguish in the loosened limbs and bending body of Christ; what piety in the adoring old man! All the moods proper ...
— New Italian sketches • John Addington Symonds

... more than three thousand years ago. Indeed, so ignorant were they of all past history, that they were not even aware that she went back into the past; for aught they knew, she might have gone, on Wednesday of last week to see the man who could untie knots by magic, and on Thursday to see the men who could drop canes on the ground that would appear to turn into wriggling serpents. But there was one statement that proved too much ...
— Ester Ried Yet Speaking • Isabella Alden

... you see my point," replied Jones. "Now if you can't untie a knot, you can always cut it if ...
— The Man Who Lost Himself • H. De Vere Stacpoole

... your azure audacities. Ladies, who, whether they are married or unmarried, are in England presumed to be agnostics in sexual matters, will roar themselves hoarse over farces whose stories could only be told to the ultramarines. Ibsen may not untie a shoe-latchet in the interest of truth, while English burlesque managers may put an army of girls into tights. One dramatist may steal a horse-laugh by a tawdry vulgarity, while another may not look over an ankle. It is the same with ...
— Without Prejudice • Israel Zangwill

... smiled cunningly—there was no still up that creek—and as he had left his horse below and his gun, she waited for him to come back, which he did, by and by, dripping and soaked to his knees. Then she saw him untie the queer "gun" on his saddle, pull it out of a case and—her eyes got big with wonder—take it to pieces and make it into a long limber rod. In a moment he had cast a minnow into the pool and waded out into the water up to his hips. She had never seen so queer a ...
— The Trail of the Lonesome Pine • John Fox, Jr.

... the universities in Laputa, did not meet the approbation of our captious and beef-eating island: and this second solution also, we are obliged to say; was exploded as soon us it was heard. Thirdly, stepped forward one who promised to untie the knot upon a more familiar principle: the thunder was kept back for so many months in order to allow time for Mr O'Connell to show out in his true colours, on the hint of an old proverb, which observes—that a baboon, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 • Various

... of pain. I have heard of something dreadful," she replied—"something which took my life away. I could not stay there after that, and so I come to you. I am not Wilford's wife, for he had another, before me—a wife in Italy—who is not dead! And I—oh! Morris, what am I? Untie my bonnet, do! It is choking me to death! ...
— Family Pride - Or, Purified by Suffering • Mary J. Holmes

... any other boy except that he had stone eyebrows. Then there was the tale about Klooskap tying up the White Eagle of the Wind so that he could not flap his wings. After a short time everything was so dirty and ill-smelling and unhealthy that Klooskap had to go back and untie one wing, and let the wind blow to clear the air and make ...
— Days of the Discoverers • L. Lamprey

... glance round upon the little company. So enraged was I that I took little heed of Mr. Vetch at the table, and heard nothing of what he said as he drew from his pocket a long paper sealed and tied with tape. No doubt I watched him untie the knots and break the seal, and spread the document on the table before him; no doubt I heard his cry of amazement, and saw Sir Richard and the few friends of my father who were present rise from their seats and crowd about him; but I remained listless in my place until a shriek from Mistress Pennyquick ...
— Humphrey Bold - A Story of the Times of Benbow • Herbert Strang

... said Uncle Wiggily. "But I will tell you what I'll do. I'll gnaw the tree down with my sharp teeth, for they are sharp, even if I am a little old. Then, when it falls, I can reach the string, untie it, and ...
— Uncle Wiggily's Travels • Howard R. Garis

... tak' you. You're scare', ain't you? But you sooner die so long she don't know it. Plenty oder feller jus' lak' dat." He walked to the nearest skiff, removed his coat, and began to untie ...
— The Winds of Chance • Rex Beach

... writer these questions present no Chinese puzzle. He simply brushes all speculation and theorizing aside by responding "Yes," to both interrogatories, on the principle that it is sometimes just as well to cut the Gordian knot as to waste precious time trying to untie it. The burrowing owl makes me think of a denizen of the other side of the river Styx, and why should one try to love that which nature has made unattractive, especially when one ...
— Birds of the Rockies • Leander Sylvester Keyser

... coffer, which stood under the head of his bed. The key of this coffer was intrusted to Yuditch. Every evening as he went to bed Ivan Andreevitch used to bid him open the coffer in his presence, used to tap in turn each of the tightly filled bags with a stick, and every Saturday he would untie the bags with Yuditch, and carefully count over the money. Vassily heard of all these doings, and burned with eagerness to overhaul the sacred coffer. In the course of five or six days he had softened ...
— The Jew And Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev

... business to untie the knots than to tie them, but at length it was done, and the unwinding process began. Alas! Farmer Green's nap was over, and with a hasty start he was roused to the full use of his faculties. When he discovered his condition he swore a round oath, and turned upon Teddy in great wrath, as he vainly ...
— Teddy's Button • Amy Le Feuvre

... this conversation naturally turned Philip's thoughts to the relic, and he went into his mother's room to take possession of it. He opened the curtains—the corpse was laid out—he put forth his hand to untie the black ribbon. It was not there. "Gone!" exclaimed Philip. "They hardly would have removed it—never would. It must be that villain Poots—wretch! but I will have it, even if he has swallowed it, though I ...
— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat

... lately seen so many of the difficulties of life solving themselves in ways that were inexplicable to her, she had unconsciously come to think that there was no knot that chance, luck, or fate would not untie. Besides, her big Dick's resources were apparently unlimited; the present weakness of her condition tended to induce her to rely more than ever upon his protection; and in the lassitude of weak hopes, she contented herself with praying occasionally that all would ...
— A Mummer's Wife • George Moore

... plainly, that Gibbon represents the spread of Christianity before Constantine to have been very great, and then laboured in vain to account for that spread; and that I, arbitrarily setting aside Gibbon's fact as to the magnitude of the "spread," cut the knot which he could not untie. ...
— Phases of Faith - Passages from the History of My Creed • Francis William Newman

... ten ways in the books of romance whereby bound men untie themselves; and doubtless one or two more I have read and forgot; and there may be other ways in the books that I have not read, besides any way that there be of which no books tell. And in addition to these ways, one ...
— Don Rodriguez - Chronicles of Shadow Valley • Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, Dunsany

... not untie the rope that's round your neck, for you can't go to the Hill of Horns without this cat ...
— The King of Ireland's Son • Padraic Colum

... Blount did not untie the package, nor did he cross-examine the traitor. His head was throbbing again almost unbearably, and he was beginning to fear that he might not last to carry out the plan of safe-conduct for the informer. Slipping ...
— The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush • Francis Lynde

... "Untie him," said Robert, at the same time drawing his pistol and covering the man; "he can't do us ...
— Benita, An African Romance • H. Rider Haggard

... children about five years of age and under. One little boy, with the simplicity of childhood, said to our men, "The others tied and starved us, you cut the ropes and tell us to eat; what sort of people are you?—Where did you come from?" Two of the women had been shot the day before for attempting to untie the thongs. This, the rest were told, was to prevent them from attempting to escape. One woman had her infant's brains knocked out, because she could not carry her load and it. And a man was dispatched with an axe, because he ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone

... not being human, as is that of Faust, but an abstract antagonism of general historic principles, should have been solved without the interference of the mere creature weaknesses of the hero and the mere creature sympathies of the reader. Immermann planned to untie the knot in a second part, which was to treat of the salvation of Merlin; but he never carried his purpose beyond a few slight ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VII. • Various

... beginning to untie her apron. "I sent John down to the lower barn to call him. But, mother, if ...
— Meadow Grass - Tales of New England Life • Alice Brown

... fly not! To this end only I have lingered on the earth. Now I untie the knot of life and let my spirit free! Fare thee well, Prince, the pilgrimage is done! Harmachis, from a babe have I loved thee, and love thee yet!—but no more in this world may I share thy griefs—I am spent. Osiris, take ...
— Cleopatra • H. Rider Haggard

... to march in front of him till he found one who had been carelessly bound. He backed this one up in the rear of Calwood, the quartermaster, and made him untie the line, which he could do with his fingers, though his wrists were bound. It was not the work of three minutes to ...
— Fighting for the Right • Oliver Optic

... lake we didn't visit, I should like to have somebody tell me where it is. You may think it made my hair stand out some, to find myself flyin' about like a streak of chain lightnin', and to see the trees and rocks flyin' like mad the other way. I tried to untie the line, but it was drawn into a knot so hard, that the old Nick himself couldn't move it. I looked for my knife to cut it, but it had, somehow, got overboard in our flight, besides flyin' about at the rate of sixty mile an ...
— Wild Northern Scenes - Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod • S. H. Hammond

... be no horse-holders in this emergency. Onward swept the avengers, but to their surprise and chagrin only a small rear-guard was found, who fled on their mules after a few shots. Streight, with the captured guns, was well on the road again, and Forrest's men were obliged to go back, untie their horses, and get in marching order, losing nearly an hour ...
— Historical Tales, Vol. 2 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... see you there, brother. I went to Jordan, where our Lord was baptized. I swam across the river; but I did not see you there. A willow grew on the bank, and I twisted the boughs into a knot, which is waiting there for you; for I said that you should untie it, and fulfil the vow that is bound ...
— Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... flow, and all things change their course, than Sabra prove inconstant to Saint George of England. Let, then, the priest of Hymen knit that gordian knot, the knot of wedlock, which death alone has power to untie." ...
— The Seven Champions of Christendom • W. H. G. Kingston

... her, on the spot, the sum of three thousand francs in gold, and ordered me to untie the rolls and pour them all into ...
— The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Constant

... resolve you, Which to you shall seem probable, of every These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful, 250 And think of each thing well. [Aside to Ari.] Come hither, spirit: Set Caliban and his companions free; Untie the spell. [Exit Ariel.] How fares my gracious sir? There are yet missing of your company Some few odd lads ...
— The Tempest - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] • William Shakespeare

... you'll be a good girl, I'll untie your hands," he said, glancing up into her face. He freed her hands, and Lorraine immediately slapped him in the face and reached for his gun. But Al was too quick for her. He stepped back, picked up Snake's reins and mounted his own horse. He looked back at her appraisingly, saw her glare of ...
— Sawtooth Ranch • B. M. Bower

... courage to do the deed, but at last an irresistible force, as she said, urged her to do it. With her hands and shoes she dug a grave, then strangled the child with string, with such force that it was difficult to untie the knot on the dead body afterwards. She knelt for some time by the child till it ceased to give any signs of life, then buried it, and returned home restraining her ...
— The Sexual Question - A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study • August Forel

... derwich dervish. desabrido insipid, tasteless, peevish. desafio challenge, duel. desaforado huge, disorderly. desangrar to bleed. desapacible disagreeable, harsh. desaparecer to disappear. desarrollar to unroll, develop. desatar to untie, loosen. desazonar to disgust, make ill-humored. desbordar to overflow. descalzo barefooted. descansar to rest, repose. descanso repose. descarga discharge, volley. descargar to discharge, unload. descarnar to strip off the flesh. descender ...
— Novelas Cortas • Pedro Antonio de Alarcon

... She is a most friendly little beast, and came up to me at once, making her chirrup of welcome, smelled my clothing, and held out her hand to be shaken. I slapped her palm without offence, though she winced. She began to untie the cord with which she was afterwards bound, with fingers and thumbs, in quite a systematic way, and on being interfered with by a man looked daggers, and screaming tried to beat him with her hands: she was afraid of his stick, and faced ...
— The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume II (of 2), 1869-1873 • David Livingstone

... is better than to study the ways of dying. Death will find some ways to untie or cut the most gordian knots of life, and make men's miseries as mortal as themselves: whereas evil spirits, as undying substances, are unseparable from their calamities; and, therefore, they everlastingly struggle under their angustias, and, bound up with immortality, ...
— Wilfrid Cumbermede • George MacDonald

... patience, endless desire to prevent matters coming to extremities, if all the resources of diplomacy, were utterly ineffectual to untie the knot, other means must inevitably be found by which that knot must ...
— Lord Milner's Work in South Africa - From its Commencement in 1897 to the Peace of Vereeniging in 1902 • W. Basil Worsfold

... belaying loop had proved too much for the strength of William's fingers; and, after several fruitless efforts to untie the knot, he had at length given it up, and, seizing the axe, had severed the halliard by cutting it through ...
— The Ocean Waifs - A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea • Mayne Reid

... the room's easy-chair and bent down to untie his laces. He kicked his shoes off. He could use that drink. He began wondering all over again if his scheme for winning this Vacuum Tube Transport versus Continental Hovercraft fracas would come off. The more he saw of Baron Haer's inadequate forces, the ...
— Mercenary • Dallas McCord Reynolds

... you suppose," I retorted, with vehemence, "that I can calmly allow my sister to be made a widow for life?—a widow, I say, for she is already married to you in spirit, and nothing will ever induce her to untie the knot. You don't know Bella—ah! you needn't smile,—you don't indeed. She is the most perversely obstinate girl I ever met with. Last night, when I mentioned to her that you had been speaking of yourself as a mere wreck, she said in a low, easy-going, meek tone, 'Jeff, I mean to cling to ...
— In the Track of the Troops • R.M. Ballantyne

... or store house of their preys and robberies." It is pleasant to speculate as to the reasons he urged to the devout New England Puritans. He must have chuckled to himself, and shared many a laugh with his clerk, to think that perhaps a Levite, or a Man of God, a deacon, or an elder, would untie the purse-strings of the sealed if he did but agonise about the Spanish Inquisition with sufficient earthquake and eclipse. He heard of the loss of the island before the answers came to him, and the news, of course, "put him upon new designs," ...
— On the Spanish Main - Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. • John Masefield

... the note." He raised his leg with difficulty, and frowning and groaning put his foot on the bench and began to untie ...
— Mother • Maxim Gorky

... mother's lap, That she may untie your cap; For the little strings have got Twisted ...
— The Tiny Story Book. • Anonymous

... gestures, was chattering to his utmost capacity, but keeping at a respectful distance from the hamper. No one knew what had caused the trouble; but Theodore was bound to make an investigation. He proceeded to untie the ropes and examine the contents, and there he found the pistol, from which, pointing upward, he fired two other bullets. "Alas!" said Hattie, "I put that pistol there, never dreaming it was loaded." The wounded man was taken to the hospital. His injuries ...
— Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 • Elizabeth Cady Stanton

... rising and facing him, "damn you, sir, you are not fit to untie Mr. Calhoun's shoe! I will not see you offer him one word of insult. Quarrel with me if you like! You will gain no votes here now in any ...
— 54-40 or Fight • Emerson Hough

... rather rashly. 'We don't swear in England, except in police courts, where the guards are, you know, and you don't want to go there. But when we SAY we'll do a thing—it's the same as an oath to us—we do it. You trust us, and we'll trust you.' She began to unbind his legs, and the boys hastened to untie his arms. ...
— The Story of the Amulet • E. Nesbit

... stop pinching me when you do untie this rope, Chris Colon," said Conrad. "I want you to know you don't own the earth. A feller what lives in Riverport all his life ought to have the right to walk along the river here without having tricks played on him, and bein' yanked head-down up in the air. You'll pay ...
— Fred Fenton on the Crew - or, The Young Oarsmen of Riverport School • Allen Chapman

... the band of his broad-brimmed straw hat and slouched lazily out of the store. An old blaze-faced sorrel horse whinnied as he stepped up to untie it. Jake mounted and rode off slowly, his bare feet dangling far below the stirrups. It was two miles to the Appleton farm, down a hot, dusty road, and he took his time in going. Well for little Betty that she did not know what ...
— The Little Colonel's House Party • Annie Fellows Johnston

... expenses of her frugal housekeeping. The paymaster knew the good man's peculiarities, and was aware of the domestic embarrassments that his too-liberal bounty often occasioned. He therefore tied the money up in a handkerchief with so many knots, that he was sure the pastor could never untie them; and gave it to him, saying in jest, 'Now really, reverend sir, you must this time give it all to your worthy spouse.' Elliot smiled, and departed: but, before he reached his dwelling, he remembered an afflicted family who stood in need of his assistance and consolation; ...
— The Pilgrims of New England - A Tale Of The Early American Settlers • Mrs. J. B. Webb

... looming close ahead; the next ferry-house, Fulton Ferry, was almost directly under it. Finally he got an oblique view of the approach to the bridge with the trolley cars and trucks crawling upon it, and he stooped over to untie his shoes. ...
— The Deaves Affair • Hulbert Footner

... dear, you had better untie it before we get home. We will lunch at the Station Hotel, and you can comb it out there. It will give the mater a shock if she sees you looking so changed. She would hardly know ...
— Tom and Some Other Girls - A Public School Story • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... hard-boiled eggs, a beet, a tablespoonful of capers, two pickles, one onion, and three anchovies. Add salt and pepper, cover the eel with the mixture, tie in a cloth, and cook with a bay-leaf for half an hour in equal parts of vinegar and water. Drain, untie, and put into a mould with aspic jelly, or with beef stock to which sufficient dissolved gelatine has been ...
— How to Cook Fish • Olive Green

... all this time doing up yours. Shouldn't wonder if we did miss the train. And it's in a knot, and I can't untie it. Mauma, mauma, bring another light here, quick! and you'd ...
— Eric - or, Under the Sea • Mrs. S. B. C. Samuels

... reindeer-skins while Lars took off his coat and crept in beside me. Then he drew the skins down and pressed the hay against them. When the wind seemed to be entirely excluded Lars said we must pull off our boots, untie our scarfs, and so loosen our clothes that they would not feel tight upon any part of the body. When this was done, and we lay close together, warming each other, I found that the chill gradually passed out of my blood. My hands and feet were no longer numb; a delightful feeling ...
— The Junior Classics • Various

... might be able to persuade her," murmured the distracted young man at the 'phone, as he struggled with one hand to untie his necktie and unfasten his collar, and mentally calculated how long it would take him to get into ...
— The Mystery of Mary • Grace Livingston Hill

... except the eyes of mademoiselle," the abbe muttered to himself as he went back to his place near the window. De Vasselot took up the packet of papers and began to untie the tape awkwardly with his one able hand. He was so slow that Mademoiselle Brun leant forward and assisted him. Denise bit her lip and pushed a chair towards him with her foot. He sat down and unfolded a map coloured and drawn in queer angles. ...
— The Isle of Unrest • Henry Seton Merriman

... Those brutes threw me down the ladder, and it stunned me. Come here. Perhaps you can untie my hands. Then we will see what chance there is ...
— Ted Strong in Montana - With Lariat and Spur • Edward C. Taylor

... made king, dedicated his wagon to the deity of the oracle, and tied it up in its place with a fast knot. This was the celebrated Gordian knot, which, in after times it was said, whoever should untie should become lord of all Asia. Many tried to untie it, but none succeeded, till Alexander the Great, in his career of conquest, came to Phrygia. He tried his skill with as ill success as others, till growing ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch

... much worse than dead: she had died in atrocious circumstances, his part in which had earned him the severe censure of the coroner's jury. His defence couldn't have been worse. He'd tied himself in damning knots ever since he'd first set eyes on the girl, and all he could bring to untie them was simply to say, 'It wasn't so.' His defence was as bad as if he were to stand up before the Divorce Court and say, 'Before she died the girl wrote and signed a statement exonerating me and ...
— If Winter Comes • A.S.M. Hutchinson

... you cover the knot with the unused part of the handkerchief. When the trick is to be performed, tie two or three very hard knots that are tightly drawn and show your audience that they are not easy to untie. The slip knot as described then must be made in apparently the ...
— The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 - 700 Things For Boys To Do • Popular Mechanics

... food.' Surely that is an inimitable note of truth. No legend-manufacturer would have dared to drop down to such a homely word as that, after such a word as 'Maiden, arise!' An economy of miraculous power is shown here, such as was shown when, after Lazarus came forth, other hands had to untie the grave-clothes which tripped him as he stumbled along. Christ will do by miracle what is needful and not one hairs-breadth more. In His calm majesty He bethinks Himself of the hungry child, and entrusts to others the task of ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... knot—a single glance at which drove all thoughts of sleep out of Johnny's mind, and suggested to him the idea of an attempt to liberate his friend. The knot, on account of the stiffness of the lasso, had not been drawn very tight, and Johnny thought he had hit upon a plan to untie it. ...
— Frank Among The Rancheros • Harry Castlemon

... snorkels, they swam on the surface, faces down, alert for sharks. When they reached the floats, Scotty kept watch from the surface while Rick dove to untie the lines. ...
— The Wailing Octopus • Harold Leland Goodwin

... now, Susie. The first thing is to slip off your wet clothes and get dry, and then help me with the others. Give me the big towel, and untie ...
— Troublesome Comforts - A Story for Children • Geraldine Glasgow

... they call you, shepherd, from the hill; Go, shepherd, and untie the wattled cotes deg.! deg.2 No longer leave thy wistful flock unfed, Nor let thy bawling fellows rack their throats, Nor the cropp'd herbage shoot another head. 5 But when the fields are still, And the tired men and dogs all gone to rest, And only the white sheep are sometimes seen; Cross and ...
— Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems • Matthew Arnold

... the man, "I bid you farewell. Keep your temper; these sober arts should have taught you this kind of self-command. You will soon be free. As for your arms, I dare not untie them now, but I will send the guard to you. Now, holloa, guard without there!" and he ...
— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 8, 1850 • Various

... twenty-four," said Lady Lucy, coldly, as though she had rather not have been asked the question; and at the same time, leaning heavily back in her chair, she began feebly to untie the lace strings of her bonnet. Bobbie was shocked by her appearance. She had aged rapidly since he had last seen her, and, in particular, a gray shadow had overspread the pink-and-white complexion which had so long preserved ...
— The Testing of Diana Mallory • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... grannies. They would jam so that you'd never untie 'em, besides being ugly. There's wrong ways even in doing up a string. See here." He rapidly twisted the ends together into a reef-knot. "There's strength and beauty together," he said. "Look how neat it is, the ends tidy along the standing part, all so neat as pie. Besides, it'd never ...
— Jim Davis • John Masefield

... is overcome by the heat, I have no doubt— such a heavy straw bonnet, too. Let me untie it ...
— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... ailing, Wind? Wilt be appeased or no? Which needs the other's office, thou or I? Dost want to be disburthened of a woe, And can, in truth, my voice untie Its links, ...
— Introduction to Robert Browning • Hiram Corson

... be there!" said Babette; she felt again the greatest desire to visit it, and this wish could be immediately fulfilled; for a boat lay on the shore and the rope which fastened it, was easy to untie. As no one was visible, from whom they could ask permission, they took the boat without hesitation, for Rudy could row well. The oars skimmed like the fins of a fish, over the pliant water, which is so yielding and still so strong; which is all back to carry, ...
— The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales. • Hans Christian Andersen

... they were in, they went out on deck and began to untie the houseboat. While they were doing so they heard the sounds of ...
— The Rover Boys on the River - The Search for the Missing Houseboat • Arthur Winfield

... him, you touch me. Now, hurry up, climb down from your perch. I shall have enough trouble now, getting the general to forgive all the blunders you have made to-night, without your adding insult to injury. Tell your men to untie us, and throw the ropes back into the tent. It will soon be daylight. Hustle, and let ...
— In the Midst of Alarms • Robert Barr

... keep my appointment,—that for one or two minutes, as before, not a word was spoken. While they all stood around staring at me as if I had just dropped from the clouds, I proceeded very leisurely to untie the strings of the package; when, with a simultaneous movement, my eager customers rushed towards the table, reaching out their hands ...
— John Whopper - The Newsboy • Thomas March Clark

... of the enemies of the gospel of Christ," said Wesley, "are they who openly and explicitly 'judge the law' itself, and 'speak evil of the law;' who teach men to break (to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) not one only, whether of the least or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke.... The most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is that they who are given up to it, really believe that they honor Christ by overthrowing His law, ...
— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... more urgin', Rupert reads it to me. I should call him a good reader, too. Anyway, he can untie one of them deep, boomin' voices, and with that long, serious face of his helpin' out the general effect—well, it's kind of impressive. He spiels off two or three stickfuls ...
— The House of Torchy • Sewell Ford

... he will untie your hands, but that if you attempt to escape an arrow will go faster than you can run, and ...
— Jack at Sea - All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy • George Manville Fenn

... [GEORGE and JOHN untie their bags and take out gold and silver. They twist it up in a handkerchief which they give to the ...
— Six Plays • Florence Henrietta Darwin

... butter and fry pork, without further hope or thought. The good clergyman of the town, interested in her situation, sought a confidence she did not care to bestow, and so, doling out a, b, c, to a wild group of boys and girls, she found that she could not untie the Gordian knot of her life, and felt, with terror, that ...
— Literary and Social Essays • George William Curtis

... Merezhkovsky, who several years ago was present at a meeting where the Russian priests affirmed their desire to free themselves from the yoke of their religious and secular chiefs, proposed to accomplish this great mission. "It is indispensable," he says, "for the Russian Church to untie the knots that bind it to the decayed forms of the autocracy, to unite itself to the 'intellectuals' and to take an active part in the struggle for the great political and social deliverance of Russia. The Church should not think of its own liberty ...
— Contemporary Russian Novelists • Serge Persky

... some monster of Ind, when you had paid your shilling to see it, and were staring out your pennyworth with your eyes as round as a pair of spectacles? Wink, man, and save them, and then let thy tongue untie the mystery." ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... the constable, examining the cords by the light of a lantern which his assistant had in the mean time fetched from without. "I'll even untie your knees, for you've to walk over the hill to the next farm-house, where we'll find a wagon to carry you to Chester jail. I promise you more comfortable quarters than ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor

... to struggle again, and shout, but a fierce hand at his throat stopped that and he was led down to the gate in the wall, where it became my task now to hold the lantern while Uncles Dick and Bob grasped our prisoner's arms and left Uncle Jack free to untie the cord. ...
— Patience Wins - War in the Works • George Manville Fenn

... that you must not bite thread or break nuts with your teeth, for all of us have had this bit of information dinned into our ears since the time when "little children should be seen and not heard" made life a worry and a care. I must confess, however, that I have seen women untie knots and do various bits of very remarkable mechanical work in this unique manner. My experience has been so broad in this particular line of observation that the expression "biting ten-penny nails" has never appeared to me to ...
— The Woman Beautiful - or, The Art of Beauty Culture • Helen Follett Stevans

... snapped Mrs. Noah. "They guessed our plan, and have fastened us to a pole or something, but I imagine we can untie it." ...
— The Pursuit of the House-Boat • John Kendrick Bangs

... covers were further adorned with a sort of embossed seal and with antique looking tapes so that you could tie it all up with two bows when you had finished with Mr Lucas's "Flotsam" for the time being, and turned to untie ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson

... forget the date fixed, the fathers of the parties each take a piece of thread in which they tie a knot for every day intervening between the date when the marriage day is settled and the day itself, and they then untie one knot for every day. Previous to the marriage all the village gods are propitiated by being anointed with oil by the Baiga or village priest. The first clod of earth for the ovens is also dug by the ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume II • R. V. Russell

... why the horse was making such a noise. But when the same thing happened the third time, the dragon lost his temper, and went down into the stable and took a whip and gave the horse a good beating. This offended the horse and made him angry, and when the young man stretched out his hand to untie his head, he made no further fuss, but suffered himself to be led quietly away. Once clear of the stable the young man sprang on his back and galloped off, calling over his shoulder, 'Hi! dragon! dragon! if anyone asks you what ...
— The Pink Fairy Book • Various

... the 32nd, Bridget Widdowson, stood, sword in hand, over a number of prisoners tied together by a rope. Not one of their movements passed unnoticed by her; her gun was instantly levelled at the hand which was trying to untie the rope, and not a man of them escaped while in her charge. By-and-by she was relieved by a soldier, and in his care ...
— The Red Book of Heroes • Leonora Blanche Lang

... "First, it is necessary for you to untie and bring down our hair bands for us." Leux climbed the tree to get the eelskin hair bands, but they had tied them so securely that it took him a long time to loosen the knots. When he came down the girls had built a large and beautiful ...
— Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore • J. Walter Fewkes

... flame. Cut off head just below bill. Untie feet, break bone and loosen sinews just below joint; pull out sinews and cut off feet. Cut out oil sac. Lay breast down, slit skin down backbone toward head; loosen windpipe and crop and pull out. Push back skin from neck and cut off neck close to body. Make slit below end ...
— The New Dr. Price Cookbook • Anonymous

... Mr. Punch's cinema burlesques. There are the familiar scenes of a plot to hang the girl's lover, swiftly alternating with scenes of her progress on horseback through the primeval forest, and concluding with her arrival just in time to shoot the villain and untie the noose that ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 152, Feb. 7, 1917 • Various

... dignity, and died with great assurance of his interest in Christ, declaring his abhorrence of popery, prelacy, erastianism and all other steps of defection. He went up the ladder with all signs of cheerfulness, and when the executioner was to untie his cravat, he would not suffer him, but untied it himself, and calling to his brother, he threw it down, saying, This is the last token you shall get from me. After the napkin was drawn over his face, he uncovered it again, and said, ...
— Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) • John Howie

... possible importance in the universe, it was not worth while bothering about his education), finally became impressed with his ability, lent him books, and gave him more time to study. These were all he needed, books and time, and when there was an especially hard knot to untie, Rebecca, as the star scholar of the neighborhood, helped ...
— New Chronicles of Rebecca • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... away, still chuckling, and began to unpack. Joanne looked behind her, then quickly held up her softly pouted lips. Aldous kissed her, and would have kissed her again but she slipped suddenly from his arms and going to Pinto began to untie a dishpan that was fastened to ...
— The Hunted Woman • James Oliver Curwood

... doors standing open for me, so I could sit in the sun, hang my feet against the warm boards, and see every inch of our meadow where the meet was to be. I was really too warm there, and had to take off the scarf, untie my hood, and ...
— Laddie • Gene Stratton Porter

... bandage your hands. At present, however, the risk is too great, eh? I am so inexperience. I might by accident tie your hands in my clumsiness, and zat—that would make so much trouble for Miss Clinton to untie zem,—yes?" ...
— West Wind Drift • George Barr McCutcheon

... brought you something on which you may exercise your ingenuity." He began, with exasperating deliberation, to untie the string which bound his parcel; he is one of those persons who would not cut a knot to save their lives. The process occupied him the better part of a quarter of an hour. Then he held out ...
— The Lock And Key Library - Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English • Various

... cry out, Mme la Duchesse," he said, coolly taking the cigar out of his mouth; "I have a headache. Besides, I will untie you. But listen attentively to what I have the honour to say ...
— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac

... he know that this big monster, this new automobile Was going to do his work for them And do it better than he! He knew that something was wrong. He was puzzled and sad and frightened. With head drooped low and feet that dragged He let old Tom untie his rope And lead him from the stall. For one short moment as he passed the shiny automobile He straightened his head and widened his nostrils And snorted and snorted again. But there within the monster, lying safe upon a seat, He saw the ...
— Here and Now Story Book - Two- to seven-year-olds • Lucy Sprague Mitchell

... Beauteous creature! She seems an angel fallen from some star. 'Twas well we passed. Untie that kerchief, Julia; Teresa, wave the fan. There seems a glow Upon her cheek, what but a moment since Was like a sculptured saint's. ...
— Count Alarcos - A Tragedy • Benjamin Disraeli

... heroic girls who afterwards meekly untie their bonnets just as they were ready to go to the church to wed against their keeper's will; and then sit down awaiting orders as to whom they must marry. Jennie was not the only girl who, in the first flush of passion, is prepared to go through fire, or ...
— The Story of Louis Riel: The Rebel Chief • Joseph Edmund Collins

... you by that which you profess, (Howe'er you came to know it,) answer me; Though you untie the winds and let them fight Against the churches'; though the yeasty waves Confound and swallow navigation' up; Though bladed corn be lodged, and trees blown down'; Though castles topple on their warders' heads'; Though palaces and pyramids do ...
— McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey

... how good Miss Preston is to me. She is good to us all, but, somehow the other girls don't seem to need so much setting straight as I have. I think I must have been all kinked up in little hard knots before I came here, and Miss Preston has begun to untie them. She hasn't got all untied yet, but I feel so sort of loosened up and easy that ...
— Caps and Capers - A Story of Boarding-School Life • Gabrielle E. Jackson



Words linked to "Untie" :   undo, loosen, change, unlash, tie, unloose, untying, unloosen, untier, unlace, modify



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