unwind

B2 · Upper Intermediate

v. to undo something that has been wrapped around something else.

v. to undo or open something that has been wound or coiled.

“He carefully started to unwind the long bandage from his arm.”

“The technician had to unwind the tangled cables before he could identify which one was faulty.”

C1 · Advanced Finance Technical

v. to close out a complicated financial deal or investment.

v. to close out or liquidate a financial position, particularly one involving complex derivatives or hedges.

“The bank had to unwind its risky investments when the market started to fall.”

“The hedge fund spent several days trying to unwind its massive position in the energy sector without triggering a price collapse.”

C2 · Proficiency Computing Technical

v. to go back through a list of computer instructions to find an error.

v. to navigate back through a call stack, often during exception handling or to generate a stack trace.

“The program will unwind the stack to find where the error first happened.”

“Efficient exception handling requires the runtime to unwind the stack and execute the necessary cleanup code for each frame.”

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Technical

n. a machine or part that lets something unroll.

n. a mechanism or operation designed to unspool or unroll material.

“The paper mill installed a new unwind at the start of the production line.”

“The automated unwind ensures that the plastic film is fed into the packaging machine at a constant tension.”