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

He didn’t look as if the task were an agreeable one and the lads placed themselves beside him as he advanced and with trembling hands tried to unbar the door.

From Dorothy's House Party by Evelyn Raymond

Etym., débacler, French, to unbar, to break up as a river does at the cessation of a long-continued frost.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell

"It is I, Pierre," cried he; "come down and unbar the door!"

From Sir Jasper Carew His Life and Experience by Charles James Lever

Then I unbar the doors; my paths lead out The exodus of nations; I disperse Men to all shores that front the hoary main.

From Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia being a concordance of choice tributes to the great Genoese, his grand discovery, and his greatness of mind and purpose by J. M. (John Marcus) Dickey

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

See, the Muse unbars the gate; Hark, the monkeys, how they prate!

From Ireland in the Days of Dean Swift Irish Tracts, 1720 to 1734 by J. Bowles (John Bowles) Daly

But when the night-wind wakes and thrills The shadows that the night unbars, Their music fills the dreamy hills, And folds the friendly stars.

From The Home Book of Verse — Volume 2 by Burton Egbert Stevenson

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

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

The sentry unbarred the door, and his terrier dæmon quivered as the three figures maneuvered their burden with difficulty through the narrow entrance.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

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

"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

We hear the unbarring of the house door, and a comely maiden, in her Sunday dress, welcomes us politely to her ground-floor sitting-room.

From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series by Horatio Robert Forbes Brown

At last, he remained somewhat longer at the gate, and bent his head more cautiously to hear; then, noiselessly unbarring and unlocking the door, he leaned out.

From The Knight Of Gwynne, Vol. I (of II) by Charles James Lever

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