disengage

From Middle French désengager ; dis- +‎ engage

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɪs.ɪŋˈɡeɪdʒ/

  Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

disengage (plural disengages)

1. (fencing) A circular movement of the blade that avoids the opponent's parry

disengage (third-person singular simple present disengages, present participle disengaging, simple past and past participle disengaged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To release or loosen from something that binds, holds, entangles, or interlocks

   Synonyms: unfasten, detach, disentangle, free

   • 1749, [John Cleland], Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352:

     Disengaging myself then from his embrace, I made him sensible of the reasons there were for his present leaving me; on which, though reluctantly, he put on his cloaths with as little expedition, however, as he could help, wantonly interrupting himself, between whiles, with kisses, touches and embraces I could not refuse myself to.

   • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe, and Everything

     Ford still had his hand stuck out. Arthur looked at it with incomprehension.
     "Shake," prompted Ford.
     Arthur did, nervously at first, as if it might turn out to be a fish. Then he grasped it vigorously with both hands in an overwhelming flood of relief. He shook it and shook it.
     After a while Ford found it necessary to disengage.

• disengagement

• engage