UNFASTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unfasten mean? 

• UNFASTEN (verb)
  The verb UNFASTEN has 2 senses:

1. cause to become undone

2. become undone or untied

  Familiarity information: UNFASTEN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNFASTEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they unfasten    ... he / she / it unfastens   
Past simple: unfastened   
Past participle: unfastened   
-ing form: unfastening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to become undone

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

unfasten your belt

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

undo (cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect)

Cause:

unfasten (become undone or untied)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "unfasten"):

unchain (remove the chains from)

unzip (open the zipper of)

unbend (unfasten, as a sail, from a spar or a stay)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

fasten (cause to be firmly attached)

Derivation:

unfastener (a person who unfastens or unwraps or opens)

unfastening (loosening the ties that fasten something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become undone or untied

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The shoelaces unfastened

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

open; open up (become open)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

fasten (become fixed or fastened)

Derivation:

unfastening (loosening the ties that fasten something)

 Context examples 

So the Wizard unfastened his head and emptied out the straw.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

As it was square and unfastened it was easily done.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

François unfastened Sol-leks’s traces and put him back in his old place.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

His cowl was thrown back upon his shoulders, and his gown, unfastened at the top, disclosed a round, sinewy neck, ruddy and corded like the bark of the fir.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was some time however before she could unfasten the door, the same difficulty occurring in the management of this inner lock as of the outer; but at length it did open; and not vain, as hitherto, was her search; her quick eyes directly fell on a roll of paper pushed back into the further part of the cavity, apparently for concealment, and her feelings at that moment were indescribable.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

In another moment, however, she found herself in the state of being released from him; some one was taking him from her, though he had bent down her head so much, that his little sturdy hands were unfastened from around her neck, and he was resolutely borne away, before she knew that Captain Wentworth had done it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I am aware, more aware than Crawford can be, that the man who means to make you love him (you having due notice of his intentions) must have very uphill work, for there are all your early attachments and habits in battle array; and before he can get your heart for his own use he has to unfasten it from all the holds upon things animate and inanimate, which so many years' growth have confirmed, and which are considerably tightened for the moment by the very idea of separation.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Sick as he was, Dave resented being taken out, grunting and growling while the traces were unfastened, and whimpering broken-heartedly when he saw Sol-leks in the position he had held and served so long.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)