Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
skein - 5 dictionary results
skein
[skeyn]
–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 < ?
1400–50; late ME skeyne, skayne < MF escaigne < ?

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To skein
skein (skān) n.
[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.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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.
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
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
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

