uncurl
verbEtymology From un- + curl.
1
To straighten out from being curled up.
- The hedgehog uncurled when its predators had left.
- But when his foe lyes prostrate on the plain, He sheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane; And, pleas'd with bloudless honours of the day, Walks over, and disdains th' inglorious Prey.1687, John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther:
1 more example
- Then he uncurled his trunk and knocked two of his dear brothers head over heels.1902, Rudyard Kipling, “The Elephant's Child”, in Just So Stories:
- Derived terms
- uncurler