unbar

Claudius has made himself a monarch again, standing at the head of a shrieking horde of desperate peasantry who believe he can unbar the door to that heavenly place.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025

In that era, debt was still punishable by imprisonment, and prison gates were almost ready to unbar in hospitable welcome to Marguerite and D'Orsay.

From Superwomen by Albert Payson Terhune

Whilst Henri stood at the window, he heard someone unbar the door; and an old man came in with a basket, in which was a comfortable breakfast.

From The Fairchild Family by Florence M. Rudland

"Dinah North," said Harrison, solemnly, "I have a message for you, which you dare not gainsay—I command you to unbar the door and receive us instantly."

From The Monctons A Novel: Volume 2 (of 2) by Susanna Moodie

I cried, “why did you unbar the door?”

From The Little Minister by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

The book’s final moments are breathless, if suspiciously flimsy—it isn’t until the very last sentence that Monk unbars “the great gate” and is freed.

From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2017

Will the sun forget to streak Eastern skies with amber ray, When the dusky shades to break He unbars the gates of day?

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

For as a gate of sorrow-land unbars   The region of unfaltering delight,   So may you gather from the fields of night That harvest of diviner thought, the stars.

From The Diwan of Abu'l-Ala by Henry Baerlein

My lady waits!—'Tis now the hour   When morn unbars her gates!—

From Poems by George Pope Morris

Soon as to Ilion's topmost tower they come, And awful reach the high Palladian dome, Antenor's consort, fair Theano, waits As Pallas' priestess, and unbars the gates.

From The Iliad by Alexander Pope

As a result, its classification was changed from unbarred spiral galaxy to barred spiral galaxy.

From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022

Eventually, we decided that my father would not recover, and so, instead of continuing to try to stave off death, we unbarred the door and began to wait.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 5, 2017

In both barred and unbarred spiral galaxies, we observe a range of different shapes.

From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016

Handel’s vocal writing can be fiercely demanding, nowhere more so than in the Angel’s opening aria, “Be unbarred, ye gates of Avernus,” in which Liv Redpath, a soprano, displayed lovely tone and fine agility.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2014

They were so wrought and poised upon their huge hinges, posts of steel driven into the living stone, that when unbarred they could be moved with a light thrust of the arms, noiselessly.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Knees, shoulders, elbows, buttocks and teeth collide with one another, fleetingly unbarring a glimpse into deeper space before they slide closed again.

From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2011

There was a noise and clamour downstairs beneath them—the sound of the slow unbarring of bolts, and angry voices without.

From Six Women by Victoria Cross

The sound, at first, produced no reply; but presently a sound of unbolting and unbarring ensued, and the door was opened, as Morgiana would have opened it to let in the forty thieves.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 6, December 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various

And then she heard him furiously unbarring the parlor door preparatory to a rush.

From Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life by Charles King

"Oh, troth, Mr. Mark, I'll not keep ye out in the cowld," said the hostess, as, unbarring the door, she admitted the guest whom we had seen some time since in the glen.

From The O'Donoghue Tale Of Ireland Fifty Years Ago by Charles James Lever