ravel

See also: Ravel

English

WOTD – 28 December 2021

Etymology

The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as “very uncertain”, and instead regards the noun as having derived from the verb (compare Dutch rafel, raffel (“frayed thread”)).

Ravel is a contranym having both the senses of tangling (verb senses 1.1, 1.2, 1.4.1, and 2.3; noun sense 1) and untangling (verb senses 1.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 2.1, and 2.2; noun sense 2). It would appear that the tangling senses predate the untangling ones (as in Dutch), but this is uncertain because the first published uses of both senses of the words occur around the same time.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹævl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹæv(ə)l/
• Rhymes: -ævəl
• Hyphenation: rav‧el

Verb

ravel (third-person singular simple present ravels, present participle ravelling or (US) raveling, simple past and past participle ravelled or (US) raveled)

1. (transitive)
   1. To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle.

      Antonyms: disentangle, unravel, untangle

      • 1653, Jeremy Taylor, “Twenty-five Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Winter Half-year, […]: Sermon XIII. [Of Lukewarmness and Zeal; or, Spiritual Fervour.] Part II.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume V, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 190:

        For the faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or ravelled and entangled in weak discourses, or so false and fallacious by its mixture of interest, that though men usually put most confidences in the pretences of faith, yet no pretences are most unreasonable.

      • 1706, [Daniel Defoe], “Book VIII”, in Jure Divino: A Satyr. […], London: [P. Hills?], →OCLC, page 188:

        When paſſive Thouſands ſtretch beneath his Sword, / And freely die at his Imperial Word, / Thoſe wild, unhappy, ſelf-defending Few, / If not deſtroy'd in Time, will ravel all the Clew; […]

      • 1896, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “Tommy the Scholar”, in Sentimental Tommy: The Story of His Boyhood, London, Paris: Cassell and Company […], →OCLC, page 338:

        What trade would not be the worse of him? […] [M]ake a clerk of him, and he would only ravel the figures; send him to the soldiering, and he would have a sudden impulse to fight on the wrong side.

   2. (also figuratively) Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit.

      Antonym: unravel

      • 1960 May 28, Walt Kelly, Pogo, comic strip, →ISBN, page 149:

        [Magazine staffer about his political team:] Pencils at the ready, keen brains agleam behind intelligent horn rims, these experts spread out to ravel the loose ends of White-Housing, web-spinning spiders for [the presidential candidate].

   3. To unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to fray, to unpick, to unravel; also, to pull out (a string of yarn, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel.
      • 1607, attributed to Thomas Middleton or Cyril Tourneur, The Revengers Tragædie. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld, […], →OCLC, Act II:

        [Y]ou ſhall haue one vvoman knit more in a hovver then any man can Rauell agen in ſeauen and tvventy yeare.

      • c. 1623 (date written; published 1653), Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, “The Spanish Gipsy”, in A[rthur] H[enry] Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton […] (The English Dramatists), volume VI, London: John C. Nimmo […], published 1885, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 142:

        If there be any fault in the verses, I can mend it extempore; for a stitch in a man's stocking not taken up in time, ravels out all the rest.

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book II.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 29, lines 127–130 and 137–141:

        [S]ince the noble Chief / Ulyſſes is no more, preſs not as yet / My nuptials, wait 'till I ſhall finiſh, firſt, / A fun'ral robe […] Thenceforth, all day / She wove the ample web, and by the aid / Of torches ravell'd it again at night. / Three years by ſuch contrivance ſhe deceived / The Grecians: […]

   4. (figuratively)
      1. To confuse or perplex (someone or something).

         Synonym: involve

      2. (archaic) Often followed by out: to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.); to clarify, to disentangle.

         Synonym: untangle

         • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

           Make you to rouell^[sic] all this matter out / That I eſſentially am not in madneſſe, / But mad in craft, […]

      3. (obsolete) To destroy or ruin (something), like unravelling fabric.
         • c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 87, column 1:

           [S]helter, ſhelter, if you be ſeene / All's ravell'd out agen: ſtand there private, / And you'le find the very opportunity / To call you forth, and place you at the Table.

   5. (programming) In the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector.
2. (intransitive)
   1. Often followed by out: of a reel of thread or skein of yarn; or a thread on a reel or a string of yarn in a skein, etc.: to become untwisted or unwound.
      • c. 1608–1610 (date written), Francis Beaumont, Iohn Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies a Bleeding. […], 4th edition, London: […] VV[illiam] J[ones] for Richard Hawkins, […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act V, page 69:

        [G]ive him a broad ſide my brave boyes with your Pikes, branch me his ſkin in Flovvers like a Sattin, and betvveene ever Flovver a mortall cut, your Royalty ſhall ravell, […]

      • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 154:

        [S]plit that forked ſtick with ſuch a nick or notch at one end of it, as may keep the line from any more of it ravelling from about the ſtick, then ſo much of it as you intended; […]

   2. (also figuratively) Often followed by out: of clothing, fabric, etc.: to become unwoven; to fray, to unravel.
      • 2011 September 10, Martha T. Moore, “After 9/11, dinner gang raises funds to honor those lost”, in USA Today‎^[1], McLean, Va.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 January 2012:

        But the real work of the First Thursday Foundation is remembering, and its biggest gift is knitting back together lives raveled by loss.

   3. (archaic or obsolete) To become entangled or snarled.
      • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 32, column 1:

        [A]s you vnwinde her loue from him; / Least it ſhould rauell, and be good to none, / You muſt prouide to bottome it on me: / Which muſt be done, by praiſing me as much / As you, in worth diſpraiſe, ſir Valentine.

      • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 25, lines 301–307:

        Yet more there be who doubt his ways not juſt, / As to his edicts, found contradicting, / Then give the rains to wandring thought, / Regardleſs of his glories diminution; / Till by their own perplexities involv'd / They ravel more, ſtill less reſolv'd, / But never find ſelf-ſatisfying ſolution.

Usage notes

• The spellings ravelling and ravelled are more common in the United Kingdom than in the United States.

Derived terms

• ravel out
• raveled, ravelled (adjective)
• raveling, ravelling (noun)
• ravelly
• ravelment
• unravel

Related terms

• unravelable, unravellable
• unraveled, unravelled (adjective)
• unraveler, unraveller
• unraveling, unravelling (adjective, noun)
• unravelment

Translations

to entwine or tangle (something) confusedly — see entangle,‎ tangle

to form (something) out of discrete elements — see knit

to unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to pull out (a string of yard, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel — see also fray,‎ unpick,‎ unravel

• Bulgarian: разпарям (bg) (razparjam)
• Greek: εκτυλίσσω (el) (ektylísso)
• Irish: rois
• Russian: распуска́ть (ru) (raspuskátʹ), распу́тывать (ru) (raspútyvatʹ)

to confuse or perplex (someone or something) — see confuse,‎ perplex

to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.) — see also clarify,‎ disentangle

• Bulgarian: разлагам (bg) (razlagam)
• Greek: ξεμπερδεύω (el) (xemperdévo)

in the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector

of a reel of thread or skein of yarn; or a thread on a reel or a string of yarn in a skein, etc.: to become untwisted or unwound

of clothing, fabric, etc.: to become unwoven — see fray,‎ unravel

Noun

ravel (plural ravels)

1. (chiefly literary or Scotland)
   1. A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle.

      Synonym: ravelment

      • 1891, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Night-watchers”, in The Little Minister. […], volume I, London, Paris: Cassell and Company, […], →OCLC, page 47:

        Mr. Urquhart was in sic a ravel after it that when he gies out the first line o' the hunder and nineteenth psalm for singing, says he, 'And so on to the end.'

      • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Baxter Dawes”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 380:

        There was a lovely ravel of sunflowers in the garden. She looked out the window. "There are my sunflowers!" she said.

      • 1927 June, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Walk to Huayapa”, in Mornings in Mexico, London: Martin Secker, published July 1927, →OCLC, page 31:

        The savannah valley is shadeless, spotted only with the thorny ravel of mesquite bushes.

   2. (figuratively) A confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation; a complication.
2. (also figuratively) A thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.; also, a situation of fabric, etc., coming apart; an unravelling.

Derived terms

• ravel bread

Translations

tangled mess — see entanglement,‎ snarl,‎ tangle

confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation — see also complication

thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.

situation of fabric, etc., coming apart — see unravelling

Further reading

• “ravel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC, page 4976, columns 1–2.
• Century Dictionary Supplement, Vol. XII, Page 1114, ravel
• H. G. Emery, K. G. Brewster, and Catherine B. Avery, editors (1952), “ravel”, in The New Century Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Appleton-Century-Crofts, →OCLC, page 1476.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ravel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “ravel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Laver, arvel, larve, laver, reval, velar