unfog

From un- +‎ fog.

unfog (third-person singular simple present unfogs, present participle unfogging, simple past and past participle unfogged)

1. (transitive) To remove the moisture or fog from.
   • 1975, Henry Ketels, Jack McDowell, Safe Skin and Scuba Diving: Adventure in the Underwater World:

     If you get any of this on the faceplate, you won't be able to unfog your mask until you wash the silicone off the glass with soap and water.

   • 1975, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak, Joan Winston, Star trek lives!, page 151:

     ...and it was so embarrassing and they always seem to bring the lights on immediately, and here I am with my wet glasses, and I'm trying to unfog them and get the bloodshot veins out of my eyes.

   • 2005, Joan Wilen, Lydia Wilen, Bottom Line's healing remedies, →ISBN:

     After a shower or bath, use a hair dryer to unfog the steamed-up mirror.

2. (transitive) To free from confusion
   • 1918, The Bookman - Volume 46, page 713:

     Let us unfog our minds, and abide by the eternal largesse of our hearts.

   • 1957, Adult Leadership - Volumes 6-7, page 61:

     Until we clarify our minds, or at least "unfog" them a little on this issue, there will be a great many related matters on which it will be difficult for us to gain perspective.

   • 1962, United States. Congress. Senate. Commerce, Quality Stabilization, Hearings, 87-2, April 9, 19, 23, May 24, 25, 1962:

     It would help to unfog the channels of distribution so that manufacturers, jobbers and retailers would know where they stood.

   • 1972, Donal W. McIntosh, Techniques of Business Communication, page 192:

     Prepositions are not bad or wrong necessarily, and they may not be incorrect grammatically, but they signal an area that can be revised if you want to write more explicitly or to unfog your writing.

3. (intransitive) To become less covered in fog or mist.
   • 1986, Amateur Radio - Volume 42, Issues 7-12, page 86:

     The meter would fog up when removed from the freezer (water vapor condensation, a natural effect), but would quickly unfog in the oven.

   • 1994, Grey Rollins, Analog, page 88:

     It was hot, sweaty work, and I had to pause a couple of times to let my helmet unfog.

   • 2001, Stephen King, Dreamcatcher: A Novel, →ISBN, page 64:

     His glasses started to unfog then, and he saw the stranger on the couch.

4. (intransitive) To become clearer or less confused.
   • 1993, Martin Harry Greenberg, Crimes of passion: twenty-three tales of love and hate, →ISBN, page 31:

     My mind was starting to unfog.

   • 1996, Michael R. Phillips, Mercy and Eagleflight, →ISBN, page 164:

     What connection there could possibly be she didn't know, but somehow the moment she touched Jess Forbes's forehead and cheek, feeling the faintest tingle in her nervous fingers as she did, at that moment it was as though she sensed the confusion in her spirit beginning to unfog.

   • 2012, Anastasia Pollack, Death by Killer Mop Doll:

     As my brain continued to unfog, I realized I wasn't tangled up in blankets but tied to a chair.

5. (transitive, optometry) To adjust the lenses a patient looks through in order to clarify their vision.
   • 1916, Charles McCormick, A System of Mature Medicine: Optics and ophthalmology, page 152:

     Sometimes, if vision is good and the same with each eye, I fog and unfog both eyes at once, in order to save time.

   • 1975, The Journal of Optometry: An Independent Review of Visual Science:

     Using the spherical lenses, unfog the patient as above. When this is completed, rotate the cylinder cell 90° and, using the cylinder lenses this time, unfog the patient again till best acuity is reached.

   • 1980, Ophthalmology Basic and Clinical Science Course, 1980-1981:

     One has only to unfog the patient by adding minus sphere to push the focal lines onto the retina (Fig 35).

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