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

“Why, if this fate my country waits, should war, “And not my love unbar to him the gates?

From The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II by J. J. Howard

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

You practical English!—will you ever unbar the shutters of your brains, and hang a picture or two in those state-chambers?

From Time and Tide by Weare and Tyne Twenty-five Letters to a Working Man of Sunderland on the Laws of Work by John Ruskin

Still he began to unbar, though grudgingly, and in half a minute we had the door loose.

From The Red Cockade by Stanley John Weyman

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

Then, when the sacred senate votes the wars, The Roman consul their decree declares, And in his robes the sounding gates unbars.

From The Aeneid English by Virgil

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

Hitherto, whenever, "I've wandered in dreams," it has generally been my unlucky fate to lose all distinct recollection of them before "The morn unbars the gates of light."

From Pencil Sketches or, Outlines of Character and Manners by Eliza Leslie

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

At last the window above the door was unbarred, but no figure could be seen at its dark opening.

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

He had some difficulty in unbarring the door, but succeeded after many endeavours.

From A Little Hero by Mrs. H. Musgrave

The sound of the unbarring of the door had deprived her of the last remnant of self-control.

From The Missing Bride by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

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

Not knowing what force there might be in the place, we occupied ourselves, at first, by unbarring and shooting the lock of the gate.

From In the Irish Brigade A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain by Charles Mills Sheldon