unfurl

/ˈʌnˌfʌrl/

/ənˈfʌl/

Other forms: unfurled; unfurling; unfurls

When you unfurl something, you unroll it or spread it out. Your yoga teacher will unfurl her long purple mat at the beginning of class.

To unfurl something is to roll it out, unwinding it the way you do with a coiled laptop charger cord. You might also unfurl a pair of socks curled around each other or the American flag you keep rolled up in a closet until the Fourth of July. Unfurl is a more common word than its opposite, furl, which means "roll or fold." The French origin is ferler, "to furl," from the Old French roots fer, "firm" and lier, "bind."

Definitions of unfurl

1. verb

   unroll, unfold, or spread out or be unrolled, unfolded, or spread out from a furled state
   “unfurl a banner”

   synonyms: unroll

   antonyms:

   roll up

   form a cylinder by rolling

   roll, roll up

   show certain properties when being rolled

   type of:

   change surface

   undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface