unspell

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ spell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈspɛl/

• Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

unspell (third-person singular simple present unspells, present participle unspelling, simple past and past participle unspelled)

1. (transitive) To break the power of (a spell); to release (a person) from the influence of a spell; to disenchant.
   • 1682, [Nahum Tate; John Dryden], The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 5:

     Such practices as Theſe, too groſs to lye / Long unobſerv'd by each diſcerning Eye, / The more judicious Iſraelites Unſpell'd, / Though ſtill the Charm the giddy Rabble held, [...]

   • 1891 January 3, I. Gollancz, “Widishins”, in The Academy, London, page 14, column 3:

     If Burd Ellen had gone “widishins" round the church, she would, I think, have used the best homoeopathic specific against the Elf-King's power; for "to go widishins" was the chief element in elfin practices, and if mortals wished to resist or unspell elf-craft, they, too, had "to go widershins," or they had to repeat the Paternoster backwards, which came to the same thing, or do something else contrariwise.

References

• “unspell”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Pullens