In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
RAVELS
Verb
ravels
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of ravel
Anagrams
• arvels, larves, lavers, revals, salver, serval, slaver, velars, versal
Source: Wiktionary
RAVEL
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
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
23 January 2025
LEFT
(adjective) being or located on or directed toward the side of the body to the west when facing north; “my left hand”; “left center field”; “the left bank of a river is bank on your left side when you are facing downstream”
Coffee Trivia
