Unravel

Mother couldn’t unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.

[S]he taking as the watchword of his true patience, vnraueld the bottome [i.e., ball of thread] of her frailtie at length, […]

So by thine offspring may repose be found, / As thou unravelest (thus to him I pray) / The knot in which my intellect is bound.

He was only aware that everything was over, that with a few words he had broken his life into small pieces. Too impatient to unravel the tangled knot, he had cut it, and nothing could mend it now.

Stop playing with the seam of the tablecloth! You’ll unravel it.

[B]e not like her who unravelleth into strands the thread which she had strongly spun, by taking your oaths with mutual perfidy.

to unravel the broad consensus which was created

to unravel the compromise achieved in the treaty

VVithin fifteen dayes, aſſiſted vvith the Duke of Spoletum, Frederick recovered all vvhich vvas vvonne from him, and unravelled the fair vveb of John Brens victory, even to the very hemme thereof.

Art ſhall be Conjur'd for it, / And Nature all unravel'ed.

[I]t is easier to conceive a low motive than a lofty one, and to call a man a villain, than to unravel patiently the tangled web of good and evil of which his thoughts are composed.

The great Ponzi scheme that lies behind our State pension is unravelling – as they all do eventually – because money being taken from new investors is insufficient to honour promises issued to earlier generations.

Not only would this unravel 150 years of American law, it would loosen a significant cornerstone of the Constitution’s interpretation of American identity.

to unravel the confusion    to unravel a plot

You muſt unravell agen, and make your vvife / Beleeve you did but try her.

See then vvith vvhat inſtruments the holy Jeſus ſets upon this great reformation of the vvorld. Tvvelve men of obſcure and poor birth, […] theſe men vvere ſent into the midſt of a knovving and vviſe vvorld […] to introduce into a nevvly ſetled Empire, vvhich vvould be impatient of novelties and change, ſuch a change as muſt deſtroy all their Temples, or remove thence all their gods: […] a Religion that vvould change the face of things, and vvould alſo pierce into the ſecrets of the ſoul, and unravel all the intrigues of hearts, and reform all evil manners, and break vile habits into gentleneſs and counſel: […]

[H]e [Nicarchus] diſputed beſt, and unravell'd the difficulties of Philoſophy vvith moſt ſuccess vvhen he vvas at Supper, and vvell vvarm'd vvith VVine.

The preſent Argument is the moſt abſtracted that ever I engaged in, it ſtrains my Faculties to their higheſt Stretch; and I deſire the Reader to attend with utmoſt perpenſity; For, I now proceed to unravel this knotty Point.

[T]he poor gentleman grew distracted, and was breaking his brains day and night to understand and unravel their sense.

Sometimes, vvith Machiavelian Sagacity, thou unravelleſt the Intrigues of State, and the traiterous Conſpiracies of Rebels giving vviſe Counſel to Monarchs.

But in a fevv days from this time, the plot unravelled itſelf.

I unravelled the intricacies which knit servility with arrogance, and meanness with ostentation; […]

Rest not until thou unravelest this mystery!

I left Holmes seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin, and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel.

It must be admitted that the workings of this unhappy woman's mind were deep and subtle, so that it was no very simple matter to unravel her plot.

Besides assisting in unravelling these two etymological conundrums, the present research also made an effort to approach a greater accuracy in presenting the original sources of borrowed words.

For everie time thou admitſt mee after, to thy / Pillovv, I'le ſtrike of an hundred pound, / Till all the debts be unravel'd: […]

O thou cruel Son of an / Inhumane Father! all my deſigns are ruin'd / And unravell'd by this blovv. / No pleaſure novv is left in me but Revenge.

I vviſh they vvould ſeriouſly reflect on it, and unravel that injurious mirth by a penitential ſadneſs, and either ſpend their time better then in viſiting, or elſe direct their viſits to better purpoſes: […]

I do not find that Henry [VIII] puſhed his imitation ſo far; but though at laſt He vvofully unravelled moſt of the purſuits of his early age, […]

Becauſe the canon lavv (follovving the civil) did allovv ſuch baſtard eignè to be legitimate, on the ſubſequent marriage of his mother: and therefore the lavvs of England […] paid ſuch a regard to a perſon thus peculiarly circumſtanced, that, after the land had deſcended to his iſſue, they vvould not unravel the matter again, and ſuffer his eſtate to be ſhaken.

[C]onſider him as a King, and what favours hath he beſtowed on his Subjects! and then, that his curteſies might not unravell or fret out, hath bound them with a ſtrong border and a rich fringe, a Triennial Parliament.

[T]he burning threads / Of woven cloud unravel in pale air: […]

Almost everyone has a favorite doll, an aging teddy, or an unraveling blankie—either safely put away in a drawer or still lovingly tucked into bed at night. Adults and children alike treasure these creature comforts because they offer security, lifelong friendship, and the smell of home.

Across the aisle, she was absentmindedly fiddling with a loose piece of yarn that had unraveled from her sweater, wrapping it around her finger the same way Derek was wrapped around her finger. And she didn't even know it. Hoo-boy. She killed him.

The yarn baby lasted a good month, emitting dry, cotton-soft gurgles and pooping little balls of lint, before Ogechi snagged its thigh on a nail and it unravelled as she continued walking, mistaking its little huffs for the beginnings of hunger, not the cries of an infant being undone.

[W]hen men doe not iſhue out of a danger by a doore of Gods opening unto them, but breake through the vvall, (as Jerome by perjury) by violent and unvvarrantable vvayes, their minds are daily haunted vvith ſcruples and perplexities, even ſometimes to dolefull diſtraction; beſides, ſuch eſcapes never grovv proſperous, rather eaſing than curing, and the comfort got by them unraueleth againe, as it hapned in Jerome of Prague.

[Y]ou may be ſure his [the Antichrist's] cunning and vvicked Emiſſaries vvill unfailingly aſſiſt, actuate and manage this Schiſm above all the reſt, it making the Reformation look ſo odiouſly, ridiculouſly and dangerouſly, as if to leave the Church of Rome vvere at laſt to unravel into a mere canting Paganiſm.

In an Eternity, vvhat Scenes ſhall ſtrike? / Adventures thicken? Novelties ſurprize? / VVhat VVebs of VVonder ſhall unravel, there?

As if someone had cut the key string of a net, they all unravelled and disappeared—those tranquillities.

To be sure, 2012 marks an emphatic end to the bygone courtesy of allowing the other campaign to have its convention moment. But the traditional nicety began unraveling at least two or three election cycles ago.

It didn't take long for New York Magazine's story on a 17-year-old stock whiz with a rumored net worth of $72 million to make a splash. But the story's juicy premise unraveled almost as quickly.

Storm Charlie had raged throught^([sic – meaning through]) the night and was unleashing further gusts on the morning that RAIL was due to inspect a vegetation management project in Kent. Bit by bit, the train timetable unravelled. A trip beginning at Bradford-on-Avon belatedly reached Bath, but that turned out to be journey's end.