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unstrung

[uhn-struhng]

Origin

verb

simple past tense and past participle of unstring.

adjective

having the string or strings loosened or removed, as a bow or harp.

weakened or nervously unhinged, as a person or a person's nerves; unnerved; discomposed: The incident left him unstrung.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object), un·strung, un·string·ing.

to deprive of strings: to unstring a violin.

to take from a string: to unstring beads.

to loosen the strings of: to unstring a bow.

to relax the tension of.

to relax unduly, or weaken (the nerves).

EXPAND

to weaken the nerves of.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1605–15; un-² + string

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To unstrung

Collins

World English Dictionary

unstrung (ʌnˈstrʌŋ)

—*adj*
1.	emotionally distressed; unnerved
2.	(of a stringed instrument) with the strings detached

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

unstrung

1598, "with strings relaxed" (of a harp, etc.), from un- (1) "not" + pp. of string (v.). Transf. sense of "weakened, unnerved" is recorded from 1692.

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Matching Quote

"Verily, the Indian has but a feeble hold on his bow now; but the curiosity of the white man is insatiable, and from the first he has been eager to witness this forest accomplishment. That elastic piece of wood with its feathered dart, so sure to be unstrung by contact with civilization, will serve for the type, the coat-of-arms of the savage. Alas for the Hunter Race! the white man has driven off their game, and substituted a cent in its place."

-Henry David Thoreau

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