untie

untie

English

Etymology

From Middle English untien, unteyen, untyȝen, untiȝen, from Old English untīġan (“to untie”), equivalent to un- +‎ tie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

Verb

untie (third-person singular simple present unties, present participle untying, simple past and past participle untied)

1. (transitive) To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of.

   to untie a knot

   • 1645, Edmund Waller, To Amoret

     Sacharissa's captive fain / Would untie his iron chain.

2. (transitive) To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Though you untie the winds, and let them fight / Against the churches.

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], OCLC 1203220866:

     All the evils of an untied tongue we put upon the accounts of drunkenness.

3. To resolve; to unfold; to clear.
   • 1668, John Denham, Of Prudence (poem)

     They quicken sloth, perplexities untie.

4. (intransitive) To become untied or loosed.
5. (programming, transitive) In the Perl programming language, to undo the process of tying, so that a variable uses default instead of custom functionality.
   • 2002, Dave Roth, Win32 Perl Programming: The Standard Extensions (page 151)

     After you finish with the INI file, all you need to do is untie the hash. Then you really are finished!

Synonyms

• unfasten

Antonyms

• tie

Translations

to loosen, as something interlaced or knotted

Arabic: فَكَّ‎ (ar) (fakka) Armenian: արձակել (hy) (arjakel), քակել (hy) (kʿakel) Aromanian: dizleg Belarusian: развя́зваць impf (razvjázvacʹ), развяза́ць pf (razvjazácʹ) Bulgarian: развъ́рзвам (bg) impf (razvǎ́rzvam), развъ́ржа pf (razvǎ́rža) Catalan: deslligar (ca) Central Sierra Miwok: šu·jum Chinese: Mandarin: 解開／解开 (zh) (jiěkāi) Czech: rozvazovat impf, rozvázat pf Dutch: losknopen (nl), losmaken (nl) Finnish: avata (fi) French: détacher (fr), délier (fr) Friulian: disleâ Georgian: აქციის (akciis) German: losbinden Greek: λύνω (el) (lýno), ξεδένω (el) (xedéno) Ancient: λύω (lúō) Hebrew: לפרום‎ m (lifrom) Hungarian: kiköt (hu), kifűz (hu), kiold (hu), kibogoz (hu), kicsomóz Irish: scaoil Italian: disfare (it), sciogliere (it), slegare (it) Japanese: 解く (ja) (ほどく, hodoku) Korean: 풀다 (ko) (pulda) Ladin: deslier Latin: solvō (la) Malayalam: അഴിക്കുക (ml) (aḻikkuka) Maori: wete, wetewete, tākiri, maheno Occitan: desligar (oc) Polish: rozwiązywać (pl) impf, rozwiązać (pl) pf Portuguese: desamarrar, desatar (pt) Quechua: paskay Romanian: desface (ro), dezlega (ro) Russian: развя́зывать (ru) impf (razvjázyvatʹ), развяза́ть (ru) pf (razvjazátʹ) Slovak: rozväzovať impf, rozviazať pf Spanish: desatar (es), desamarrar (es), desligar (es) Swedish: knyta upp Turkish: çözmek (tr) Ukrainian: розв'я́зувати impf (rozvʺjázuvaty), розв'яза́ти pf (rozvʺjazáty) Venetian: desligar Vietnamese: cởi (vi), tháo (vi) Welsh: datod (cy), datglymu (cy)

to free from fastening or from restraint

Arabic: فَكَّ‎ (ar) (fakka) Armenian: արձակել (hy) (arjakel) Belarusian: адвя́зваць impf (advjázvacʹ), адвяза́ць pf (advjazácʹ) Bulgarian: отвъ́рзвам (bg) impf (otvǎ́rzvam), отвъ́ржа (bg) pf (otvǎ́rža) Czech: odvazovat impf, odvázat pf Dutch: losmaken (nl) Finnish: irrottaa (fi) French: détacher (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: losmachen (de) Greek: λύνω (el) (lýno), ξεδένω (el) (xedéno), ελευθερώνω (el) (eleftheróno) Ancient: λύω (lúō) Hebrew: התיר‎ (he) m (hitir) Irish: scaoil Italian: disfare (it) Malayalam: അഴിക്കുക (ml) (aḻikkuka) Maori: whakamatora, maheno Polish: odwiązywać impf, odwiązać pf Portuguese: desamarrar, desatar (pt) Russian: отвя́зывать (ru) impf (otvjázyvatʹ), отвяза́ть (ru) pf (otvjazátʹ) Slovak: odväzovať impf, odviazať pf Spanish: soltar (es) Swedish: lösgöra (sv), knyta loss Turkish: çözmek (tr) Ukrainian: відв'я́зувати impf (vidvʺjázuvaty), відв'яза́ти pf (vidvʺjazáty) Welsh: datod (cy)

to resolve

Dutch: ontrafelen (nl), oplossen (nl), ontwarren (nl) Finnish: ratkaista (fi) German: aufklären (de), auflösen (de), beschließen (de), beseitigen (de), lösen (de) Greek: λύνω (el) (lýno) Portuguese: resolver (pt) Russian: реша́ть (ru) impf (rešátʹ), реши́ть (ru) pf (rešítʹ) Spanish: desatar (es) Turkish: çözmek (tr)

to become untied or loosed

Dutch: loskomen (nl) Finnish: avautua (fi) French: détacher (fr) German: sich lösen Greek: λύνομαι (el) (lýnomai) Hungarian: kikötődik, kioldódik, kifűződik Italian: sciogliersi (it) Malayalam: അഴിയുക (ml) (aḻiyuka) Maori: maheno Portuguese: soltar (pt) Russian: развя́зываться (ru) impf (razvjázyvatʹsja), развяза́ться (ru) pf (razvjazátʹsja) Spanish: desatarse (es) Turkish: çözülmek (tr) Welsh: datod (cy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: (please verify) ontrafelen (nl)

Further reading

• “untie”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “untie”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “untie”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “untie” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Anagrams

• unite