unhinge

English

Etymology

un- +‎ hinge

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈhɪnd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɪndʒ

Verb

unhinge (third-person singular simple present unhinges, present participle unhinging, simple past and past participle unhinged)

1. To remove the leaf of a door or a window from its supporting hinges.
   • 1988 December 4, Vivien Sharples, “Seattle Anti-Abortionists Thwarted”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 21, page 3:

     Operation Rescue eventually unhinged the locked gate, but were still unable to leave the parking lot due to the demonstrators' blocking the driveway.

2. (zoology, of a joint) To dislocate.

   Many snakes can unhinge their jaw joints to swallow large prey.

3. To mentally disturb.
   • 2008, Peter Lorge, “The Great Ditch of China and the Song-Liao Border”, in Don J. Wyatt, editor, Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, pages 59–74 at 67:

     Taizong's failure fooled no one. Indeed, one of Taizong's own sons may well have been unhinged by his father's obvious fratricidal and nepoticidal actions. These personal considerations directly affected Taizong's policy decisions, and thus warrant some discussion.

Translations

remove a leaf from its supporting hinges

• Catalan: treure de polleguera
• Dutch: uit de scharnieren tillen,
• French: dégonder (fr),
• German: aus den Angeln heben
• Hungarian: kiakaszt (hu), kiemel (hu)
• Irish: bain dá insí
• Italian: scardinare (it)
• Russian: снима́ть с пете́ль impf (snimátʹ s petélʹ), снять с пете́ль pf (snjatʹ s petélʹ)
• Spanish: desquiciar (es)
• Welsh: dadfachu

to mentally disturb

• Dutch: uit zijn evenwicht brengen, verwarren (nl)
• French: déséquilibrer (fr), troubler (fr), sortir de ses gonds (fr)
• Hungarian: megháborít (hu), megzavar (hu), meghibbant (hu)
• Russian: выбива́ть из колеи́ impf (vybivátʹ iz koleí), вы́бить из колеи́ pf (výbitʹ iz koleí)
• Spanish: trastornar (es), desquiciar (es)