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prettygoodwordunreeve (un-REEV) - v., to remove (a rope) from an opening, such as a tackle, hole, or ring; to become unreeved.
This of course depends on reeve, which means to pass a rope or cable through a hole, ring, etc., especially originally to pass through the reef lines of a sail, whence the term. Interestingly, the first citations for unreeve are a couple decades (c. 1600) earlier than those for reeve in this sense (1620s) -- though reef in this sense goes back to the 14th century (and comes from Norse roots via Dutch). The past tense, btw, is unrove or unreeved -- another one of those verbs we can't decide is strong or weak.
And that fraps things up for this week, m' hearties. Next week, we put into port with the usual mixture. Smooth sailing!
---L.
This of course depends on reeve, which means to pass a rope or cable through a hole, ring, etc., especially originally to pass through the reef lines of a sail, whence the term. Interestingly, the first citations for unreeve are a couple decades (c. 1600) earlier than those for reeve in this sense (1620s) -- though reef in this sense goes back to the 14th century (and comes from Norse roots via Dutch). The past tense, btw, is unrove or unreeved -- another one of those verbs we can't decide is strong or weak.
And that fraps things up for this week, m' hearties. Next week, we put into port with the usual mixture. Smooth sailing!
---L.
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Date: 2010-07-30 02:48 pm (UTC)