RAVEL

run, ladder, ravel

(noun) a row of unravelled stitches; “she got a run in her stocking”

Ravel, Maurice Ravel

(noun) French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)

ravel, tangle, knot

(verb) tangle or complicate; “a ravelled story”

ravel, unravel, ravel out

(verb) disentangle; “can you unravel the mystery?”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

ravel (plural ravels)

A snarl; a complication.

A ravelled thread.

Verb

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

(transitive) To tangle; entangle; entwine confusedly, become snarled; thus to involve; perplex; confuse.

(transitive, figurative) To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle or clarify.

(transitive) To pull apart (especially cloth or a seam); unravel.

(intransitive) To become entangled.

(intransitive) To become untwisted or unwoven.

(computing, programming) In the APL programming language, to reshape (a variable) into a vector.

Usage notes

• The spellings ravelling and ravelled are more common in the UK than in the US.

Anagrams

• arvel, larve, laver, reval, velar

Source: Wiktionary

Rav"el, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raveled or Ravelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Raveling or Ravelling.] Etym: [. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.]

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.

Rav"el, v. i.

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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition