WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Rav"el
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.]
Definition : 1. To separate or undo the texture of; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a sticking. Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care. Shak.

2. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.

3. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve. What glory's due to him that could divide Such raveled interests has he not untied Waller. The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak discourses! Jer. Taylor.

t. [imp. & p. p. Raveled or Ravelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Raveling or Ravelling.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Rav"el
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : 1. To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy.

2. To fall into perplexity and confusion. [Obs.] Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still less resolved. Milton.

3. To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern. [Obs.] The humor of raveling into all these mystical or entangled matters. Sir W. Temple.

i.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913