hank

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A coil or loop.
2. n. Nautical A ring on a stay attached to the head of a jib or staysail.
3. n. A looped bundle, as of yarn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A skein or coil of yarn or thread; more particularly, a definite length of yarn, thread, silk, or the like bound up in one or more skeins. A hank of cotton yarn is 840 yards; a hank of linen yarn is 3,000 yards.
2. n. A string; a tie; a clasp; a hold; a collar, chain, ring, or other means of fastening.
3. n. Specifically Nautical, a ring of wood or iron (formerly of rope) fastened round a fore-and-aft stay, and having the head of a jib or stay-sail seized to it. Iron hanks are used on wire stays, and wooden ones on rope stays.
4. n. A withy or rope for fastening a gate.
5. n. A handle.
6. To fasten by means of a rope or cord: draw or compress tightly.
7. [⟨ hank, n.] To form into hanks, as yarn.
8. To hang.
9. Same as hanker.
10. n. A habit or practice.

Wiktionary

1. n. A coil or loop of something, especially twine, yarn, or rope
2. n. nautical A ring or shackle that secures a staysail to its stay and allows the sail to glide smoothly up and down.
3. n. Ulster doubt, difficulty
4. n. Ulster mess, tangle
5. v. transitive To form into hanks.
6. v. transitive, UK, dialect To fasten with a rope, as a gate.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A parcel consisting of two or more skeins of yarn or thread tied together.
2. n. Prov. Eng. A rope or withe for fastening a gate.
3. n. Hold; influence.
4. n. (Naut.) A ring or eye of rope, wood, or iron, attached to the edge of a sail and running on a stay.
5. n. (Wrestling) A throw in which a wrestler turns his left side to his opponent, twines his left leg about his opponent's right leg from the inside, and throws him backward.
6. v. Prov. Eng. To fasten with a rope, as a gate.
7. v. To form into hanks.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a coil of rope or wool or yarn