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by Liz Walter

Today’s post is about words we use for fastening and unfastening things.

The verbs fasten and attach are very general. It doesn’t matter what you use to join the parts together: it could be glue, buttons, string – anything! Secure is also general and emphasizes how strongly the things are joined.

She fastened the papers together with a paper clip.

Attach the address label to the outside of the parcel.

The bike racks are secured to the ground with bolts.

The opposites of ‘fasten’ and ‘attach’ are unfasten and detach. There is no direct opposite of ‘secure’, so we have to express the idea in different ways, for example by saying that we take something apart, or that we remove it or take it off.  We can also say that something has become unattached or detached or that it has come apart:

She began to unfasten her helmet.

We took the bed apart in order to move it to the other room.

Remember to take the price tag off before you give it to him.

The boat became detached from its anchor.

When we fasten things together with rope or string, we tie them or bind them together. We also use the verb lash to talk about tying large things together with rope:

He tied his horse to a wooden post.

The prisoner’s hands were bound together.

Our equipment was lashed to the top of the truck.

When we stick things together, we fasten them with glue or another sticky substance. Glue is also a verb:

The card was stuck on with glue.

Glue the two pieces of wood together.

One context where we often talk about fastening is clothing. The most common words we use are do up and undo. However, we often use the name of the fastener as a verb, for example buckle, button or lace. We often add up to these verbs – there is no difference in meaning. Although the American version of the noun zip is zipper, the verb is usually zip in both UK and US English. The opposite of all these words is formed with the prefix un-:

Make sure you do your coat up.

I helped her button her coat.

I laced up my shoes.

He unzipped his jacket.

Another context where fastening is important is when we make things, for example from wood. As with clothing, the verb form is often the same as the noun form of the things that do the fastening, for example nail, bolt, screw, pin or peg.  For the opposite action, we usually say that we take the nail/peg, etc. out, though for screws, the verb unscrew is also common:

The pieces of wood were nailed together.

We used pliers to take the pins out.

You need to unscrew the cover to replace the battery.

I hope you found this post useful. Please feel free to suggest any other topics you would like to read about!