Verb

To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of.

to untie a knot

* (rfdate), Waller:

Sacharissa's captive fain / Would untie his iron chain.

To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.

* Shakespeare, Macbeth , act 4, scene 1:

Though you untie the winds, and let them fight / Against the churches.

* (rfdate), Jeremy Taylor:

All the evils of an untied tongue we put upon the accounts of drunkenness.

To resolve; to unfold; to clear.

* (rfdate), Denham:

They quicken sloth, perplexities untie .

To become untied or loosed.

Verb

(en verb)

To undo or open a lock or something locked by, for example, turning a key, or selecting a combination.

To obtain access to something.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

To disclose or reveal previously unknown knowledge.

To be or become unfastened or unrestrained.

*

He had come straight up without mishap or swerving off his course, and his shut teeth unlocked .