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skein - 5 dictionary results
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skein

  [skeyn]
Use skein in a Sentence
–noun
1. a length of yarn or thread wound on a reel or swift preparatory for use in manufacturing.
2. anything wound in or resembling such a coil: a skein of hair.
3. something suggestive of the twistings of a skein: an incoherent skein of words.
4. a flock of geese, ducks, or the like, in flight.
5. a succession or series of similar or interrelated things: a skein of tennis victories.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME skeyne, skayne < MF escaigne < ?
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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skein   (skān)   
n.  
    1. A length of thread or yarn wound in a loose long coil.
    2. Something suggesting the coil of a skein; a complex tangle: a twisted skein of lies.
  2. A flock of geese or similar birds in flight. See Synonyms at flock1.

[Middle English skeine, from Old French escaigne.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Skein

Skein\, n. [OE. skeyne, OF. escaigne, F. ['e]cagne, probably of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. sgainne, Gael. sgeinnidh thread, small twine; or perhaps the English word is immediately from Celtic.]

1. A quantity of yarn, thread, or the like, put up together, after it is taken from the reel, -- usually tied in a sort of knot.

Note: A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread round a fifty-four inch reel.

2. (Wagon Making) A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle. --Knight.

Skein

Skein\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A flight of wild fowl (wild geese or the like). [Prov. Eng.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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skein 
c.1440, from M.Fr. escaigne "a hank of yarn," from O.Fr. escagne (1354), of uncertain origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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