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Fine Dictionary

undo

ənˈdu
WordNet
  1. (v) undo
    remove the outer cover or wrapping of "Let's unwrap the gifts!","undo the parcel"
  2. (v) undo
    cause to become loose "undo the shoelace","untie the knot","loosen the necktie"
  3. (v) undo
    cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect "I wish I could undo my actions"
  4. (v) undo
    deprive of certain characteristics
  5. (v) undo
    cause the ruin or downfall of "A single mistake undid the President and he had to resign"
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Undo
    To bring to poverty; to impoverish; to ruin, as in reputation, morals, hopes, or the like; as, many are undone by unavoidable losses, but more undo themselves by vices and dissipation, or by indolence. "That quaffing and drinking will undo you,"
  2. Undo
    To loose; to open; to take to piece; to unfasten; to untie; hence, to unravel; to solve; as, to undo a knot; to undo a puzzling question; to undo a riddle. "Pray you, undo this button.", "She took the spindle, and undoing the thread gradually, measured it."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. undo
    To leave unperformed or unexecuted: usually in opposition with do.
  2. undo
    To put back into a former condition; reverse, as something which has been done; annul; bring to nought.
  3. undo
    To untie or unfasten; unloose; unfix; open.
  4. undo
    To find the answer or explanation of; solve.
  5. undo
    To bring ruin or distress upon; ruin the morals, character, reputation, or prospects of; destroy; annihilate; spoil; ruin.
  6. undo
    To reveal; disclose; unfold; explain.
  7. undo
    To be too much for the power of; baffle.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (v.t) Undo
    un-dōō′ to reverse what has been done: to bring to naught: to loose: to open: to unravel: to impoverish: to ruin, as in reputation:
  2. (v.t) Undo
    un-dōō′ (Shak.) to leave undone
Quotations
Do not do what you would undo if caught.
Leah Arendt
Euripides
That glittering hope is immemorial and beckons many men to their undoing.
Euripides
Bernard Le Bovier Fontenelle
It is the passions that do and undo everything.
Bernard Le Bovier Fontenelle
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne
Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.
Eva Young
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary AS. undn,. See 1st Un-, and Do to perform

Usage in the news

Your arrogance and ego are your undoing. officer.com

Delivering the 'you didn't build that' speech, Roanoke, Va. P resident Obama must surely wish he could undo the campaign speech he delivered in Roanoke, Va. nationalreview.com

Budig ECM Capitol reporter Democratic Gov Mark Dayton today (Thursday, Jan 20) indicated he would veto any bills lawmakers sent him aimed at undoing the state's participation in expanded federal health care coverage. erstarnews.com

A study published in Nature yesterday threatens to undo years of eating disorder justification. nymag.com

Late-session fix for Beers' former company could undo state oversight of health insurers. lasvegassun.com

I'm trying to undo the Great Society. philly.com

A Dream Achieved Not only did Sanger live to see the realization of her "magic pill," but four years later, at the age of 81, Sanger witnessed the undoing of the Comstock laws. pbs.org

The visual style can't undo the murkiness of the screenplay , however. chattanoogapulse.com

A shameful bill that would undo much of the post-Watergate reforms is being rushed to the House floor. motherjones.com

Google is giving you a gift: an undo button on life. columbiamissourian.com

' Storybook Man' faces his undoing. goerie.com

The Undoing Of The Storybook Man. 560wind.townhall.com

Carlos Soto-Lopez cried as he talked about his daughters and how they deserved to be happy and how he can't undo what he did in strangling and killing their mother and his common-law wife, Sandra Hernandez. deseretnews.com

How do you undo past misunderstandings. oprah.com

Unfortunately for the Weber State University women's soccer team, that one shot proved to be their undoing. standard.net

Usage in scientific papers

But since these corrections amount to the standard ones of quantum field theory, which do not modify the conservation law, they cannot undo the effects pointed out here.
Quantum matter in quantum space-time

QEC provides a means to detect and undo such departures without upsetting the quantum computation.
Quantum Computing

However, given a scenario with, say, 100,000 changes, we cannot simply undo each individual change in order to minimize it.
Finding Failure Causes through Automated Testing

We now undo the linearization to obtain the multiplier equation (2.10) by integrating with respect to λ as follows.
Direct construction method for conservation laws of partial differential equations. Part II: General treatment

Local operations (single-qubit operations) cannot create or undo entanglement, whereas non-local (multi-qubit) operations can.
Experimental Quantum Computation with Nuclear Spins in Liquid Solution

Usage in literature

You will undo everything. "The Cycle of Spring" by Rabindranath Tagore

But then, even God could not undo the fact that I had killed my brother. "Roger Trewinion" by Joseph Hocking

He impersonated potentiality to do as well as undo. "Sir Walter Ralegh" by William Stebbing

You did it so well, too, that you cannot undo it, now that you would like to make me rich. "Fair Margaret" by Francis Marion Crawford

It was there that her undoing was accomplished. "The Creators" by May Sinclair

Give me time to undo what I have done. "The Unicorn from the Stars and Other Plays" by William B. Yeats

Here then is certainly a confession of his mistake, and, if his words are sincere, an offer to undo his wrong. "Homer's Odyssey" by Denton J. Snider

An' just sayin' 'Forgive me' don't undo that job. "Dorothy on a Ranch" by Evelyn Raymond

He must do his best to undo the mischief he had done. "The Hero of Garside School" by J. Harwood Panting

Now they were like to undo him and her. "Privy Seal" by Ford Madox Ford

Usage in poetry
“Rise, O rise, my own Eliza,
And undo thy chamber door;
I can name the name of Jesus,
As I once could do before.”
Ah, Mind, why didst thou do those things
That now do work my woe?
Ah, Will, why was thou thus inclin'd
Me ever to undo?
Nanny blushes when I woo her,
And with kindly chiding eyes
Faintly says I shall undo her;
Faintly, O, forbear! she cries.
Whither would my passion run?
Shall I fly her, or pursue her?
Losing her I am undone,
Yet would not gain her to undo her.
Not for me is glory of dawn,
The undoing of deeds that are done;
The light I have lost is still lost
Though I walk in the sun.
"Most honored," spake again the charioteer,
Bethink thee of my Lord thy father's grief!
Bethink thee of their woe whose bliss thou art —
How shalt thou help them, first undoing them?"