What does the word “unbusheling” mean?

13 comments

1. >Context: “unbusheling” means revealing the existence of magic to someone who didn’t know about it.

   Sounds like that’s what it means. A brief google search suggests this word doesn’t exist outside of this book series

2. I’m not familiar with that word. The author is Australian, so you might have better luck in an Australian sub.

3. A bushel is a basket-like container, so I think here the idea is that the secret of magic is no longer being contained. It’s like the expression “they let the cat out of the bag.”

4. I’ve never heard the word, so it’s either a super obscure one not in common use or a made up one. A bushel is a basket used for collecting/selling produce so might be related to that?

5. As others have said, “bushel” is an old-fashioned word for a type of basket.

   I assumed it was a play on the biblical instruction to not “hide your light under a bushel.”

6. Since it specifically mentions light I am sure it is a biblical reference to Matthew 5:15.

   And bushel is also basket in some versions.

   I don’t know the book, but bible reference is about not hiding the light from your candle under a basket (bushel), you put it on a candlestick so the whole house can use the light.

7. Just a guess, but it sounds like a throwback to when the vast majority of people were involved in agriculture. A bushel is when you are gathering grain in a specific amount for taking to market. The idea that you would undo that makes no sense, like revealing a revealing a trick.

8. I would assume it’s a play on the biblical “hide your light under a bushel”. Originally that was a bit about how Christian goodness needed to be seen but in more recent times it’s just an expression that means hiding your talent/achievements.

   So unbusheling would be showing what makes them special. The magic, in this case.

9. [This](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51IDx-WbKpL.jpg) is a bushel.

10. You might want to try the linguistic or history subs, they may have some insights into the term or constituent parts meaning that may not be know to general modern speakers.

11. Without further context I would guess it was the opposite of packing a certain volume of things in a bushel basket. It’s an old way of selling produce by volume in standardized baskets.

    So I would guess unbusheling would be like unpacking or taking a group of things and dividing them up.

    What’s the context of the specific sentence.

    I could see it meaning like unpacking the bushel of of topics related to magic and laying them out individually or something like that.

12. A bushel is a specific size of basket. Commonly used in agriculture and was a part of the many different pre-metric measurement system. In particular US and UK Imperial systems. “Unbusheling” is not a common word (my spell check does not even recognize it) but the term would imply the image of unpacking a basket.

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