skein

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for skein in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English skeyne, Old French escaigne, French écagne, probably of Celtic origin, from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”)

Pronunciation
  • enPR: skān, IPA(key): /skeɪn/
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Noun

skein (plural skeins)

  1. A quantity of yarn, thread, or the like, put up together, after it is taken from the reel. A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread around a fifty-four inch reel.
    • 1935, T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral, Part I:
      You hold the skein: wind, Thomas, wind
      The thread of eternal life and death.
  2. (figuratively) A web, a weave, a tangle.
    • 1923, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Creeping Man:
      The practical application of what I have said is very close to the problem which I am investigating. It is a tangled skein, you understand. and I am looking for a loose end.
  3. (zoology) The membrane of a fish ovary.
  4. (wagonmaking) A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
  5. (zoology, provincial England) A group of wild fowl, (e.g. geese, goslings) when they are in flight.
  6. (sports) A winning streak.

Translations
winning streak — see winning streak

Verb

skein (third-person singular simple present skeins, present participle skeining, simple past and past participle skeined)

  1. To wind or weave into a skein.

See also

Anagrams

Faroese

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /skaiːn/

Noun

skein f (genitive singular skeinar, plural skeinir)

  1. (kvæði) scratch, small wound

Declension
Declension of skein
f2 singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative skein skeinin skeinir skeinirnar
accusative skein skeinina skeinir skeinirnar
dative skein skeinini skeinum skeinunum
genitive skeinar skeinarinnar skeina skeinanna

Verb

skein

  1. shone, singular past tense form of skína (to shine)

Icelandic

Verb

skein

  1. second-person singular active imperative of skeina

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

Verb

skein

  1. simple past of skinne

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

skein

  1. past tense of skina
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