From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ravel \Rav"el\, verb (used without an object)
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ravel \Rav"el\ (r[a^]v"'l), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Raveled} (-'ld) or {Ravelled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Raveling} or {Ravelling}.] [OD. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.]
1. To separate or undo the texture of; to unravel; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a stocking.
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 the knot 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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: French composer and exponent of Impressionsim (1875-1937) [syn: {Maurice Ravel}]
2: a row of unravelled stitches; "she got a run in her stocking" [syn: {run}, {ladder}]
verb
1: disentangle; "can you unravel the mystery?"; "unravel the ball or yarn" [syn: {unravel}, {ravel out}]
2: tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story" [syn: {tangle}, {knot}] [ant: {unravel}, {unravel}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
98 Moby Thesaurus words for "ravel": Chinese puzzle, Gordian knot, Rube Goldberg contraption, answer, ball up, bottom, can of worms, clarify, clear up, complex, complicate, confound, confuse, crack, debug, decipher, decode, disembroil, disentangle, disintricate, disinvolve, divine, do, dope, dope out, embrangle, entangle, explain, fathom, figure out, find out, find the answer, find the solution, foul up, get, get right, guess, guess right, have it, hit it, implicate, interpret, involve, jungle, knot, labyrinth, louse up, make out, maze, meander, mesh, mess, mess up, mix up, muck, muck up, muddle, open the lock, perplex, plumb, psych, psych out, puzzle out, ramify, ravel out, resolve, riddle, screw up, snafu, snake pit, snarl, snarl up, solve, sort out, tangle, tangled skein, unbraid, unclutter, uncoil, undo, unknot, unlock, unmix, unravel, unriddle, unscramble, unsnarl, untangle, unthread, untwine, untwist, unweave, unwind, webwork, wheels within wheels, wilderness, work, work out
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0