Disbound

To release or free something that was previously bound or fastened; specifically, to detach pages from a book or a collection of documents, often rendering them unbound or separated. The act of disbinding suggests a deliberate act of separation, potentially to reorganize, distribute, or repurpose the original material. The implication is that the subject being 'disbound' was originally structured as a single unit or entity and the process leads to it being unbound and less cohesive. It suggests removal of constraint.

Disbound meaning with examples

• The rare manuscript was painstakingly disbound by the conservator to allow for its individual pages to be digitally scanned and preserved, preserving the text while changing its physical form. This was a significant undertaking, freeing the pages from the constraints of their original binding.
• After years of research, the professor decided to disbound his extensive collection of case files. He needed to separate them by topic to create a new organization system. He made use of his freed files to compile his comprehensive work on the subject.
• The artist, seeking inspiration, purchased a collection of old books and decided to disbound them. He used the individual pages to create collages, giving the discarded material a new artistic life beyond their original context, freed from their text constraints.
• Due to a budget constraint, the company opted to disbound the reports previously kept in large bound volumes. It decided to make each report individually accessible to the staff, thereby freeing up storage space and reducing access costs.