UNCOIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does uncoil mean? 

• UNCOIL (verb)
  The verb UNCOIL has 1 sense:

1. unwind or untwist

  Familiarity information: UNCOIL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNCOIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they uncoil    ... he / she / it uncoils   
Past simple: uncoiled   
Past participle: uncoiled   
-ing form: uncoiling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unwind or untwist

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "uncoil" is one way to...):

disentangle; unwind (separate the tangles of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

coil (wind around something in coils or loops)

 Context examples 

The parts of chromosomes that, during interphase, are uncoiled dispersed threads and not stained by ordinary dyes; metabolically active, in contrast to the inert heterochromatin.

(Euchromatin, NCI Thesaurus)

Agents that are capable of inserting themselves between the successive bases in DNA, thus kinking, uncoiling or otherwise deforming it and therefore preventing its proper functioning.

(DNA Intercalating Agent, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

He uncoiled his whip.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I cut no more than was necessary, and what with passing the long ropes under and around the booms and masts, of unreeving the halyards and sheets, of coiling down in the boat and uncoiling in order to pass through another knot in the bight, I was soon wet to the skin.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)