unbosom means to tell someone about (one's troubles), and thus obtain relief.
unbosom is pronounced /ʌnˈbʊz.əm/.
Why “unbosom” is a great word
To confess or reveal one's innermost feelings or secrets to another, thereby relieving an emotional burden. From the English prefix *un-* (expressing reversal or removal) + *bosom* (in the sense of 'the seat of emotions or private thoughts'), first attested in the 1580s. Unlike 'confess' (which presumes a fault or transgression) or 'disclose' (a neutral, often factual revelation), to unbosom is the quiet unfastening of the heart's hidden ledger, seeking the specific solace of shared intimacy. It is the weight lifted in the deepening dark of a quiet room, the unspooling of a tightly wound story over a slanted glass, the sudden tears that arrive when someone finally asks, genuinely, how you are—a small, necessary surrender to the terrible loneliness of being a self.
Etymology
From un- + bosom (“the seat of emotions”).
verb
- To tell someone about (one's troubles), and thus obtain relief.e.g.“Their several counsels they unbosom shall
To loves mistook, and so be mock'd withal
Upon the next occasion that we meet,
With visages displayed, to talk and greet.” — 1594, Willam Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act V, scene 2, line 2040:
- To free (oneself) of the burden of one's troubles by telling of them.
- To confess a misdeed.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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