ravel Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)
Maurice Ravel.
noun a row of unravelled stitches
ladder; run.
- she got a run in her stocking
verb disentangle
ravel out; unravel.
- can you unravel the mystery?
verb tangle or complicate
tangle; knot.
- a ravelled story

. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.

imperfect & past participle Raveled or Ravelled; present participle & verbal noun Raveling or Ravelling

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.
To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.
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.

To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy.
To fall into perplexity and confusion. Obs.
Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still less resolved. Milton.
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.