unclose
verbUK /ʌnˈkləʊz/
Etymology From un- + close.
1
To open; to unclench.
- They measured it to some considerable length—another door presented itself to the searching hand of Carlstadt the Baron, but resisted the repeated efforts made to unclose it.1807, [Miss Guion], chapter I, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, page 11:
- His eyes he opened, shut, again unclosed, / For all was doubt and dizziness […]1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.112:
2 more examples
- All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow and inconsumably, and sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air […]1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Triumph of Life:
- Not a word passed between them as she went to the cupboard in the corner and replaced the hammer, which she had taken without asking leave; together—she unclosed her fist—with a handful of nails.2000, Hayden White, Figural Realism: Studies in the Mimesis Effect, page 78: