hank

English

Etymology

From Middle English hank, of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse hǫnk (compare haki (“something bent”)), related to Proto-Germanic *hakô (“hook”). Akin to Old English hangian (“to hang”). First known use: 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hæŋk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋk

Noun

hank (plural hanks)

1. A coil or loop of something, especially twine, yarn, or rope.

   Coordinate term: skein

   • 1681, E.R., The Experienced Farrier, London, p. 307,

     the best thing of all to stop bleeding at the Nose, is to take a Hank of Coventry-blew thread, and hang it cross a stick, and set one end of it on fire and let him receive the smoak up his Nostrils

   • 1796, Thomas Pennant, “History of Holywell Parish,”, in The History of the Parishes of Whiteford, and Holywell‎, London: B. and J. White, page 217:

     Cotton twist is spun here of 130 hanks to the pound. Each hank is 840 yards long […]

   • 1859, George Eliot, chapter 9, in Adam Bede‎, volume 1, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, page 181:

     […] her hair was as straight as a hank of cotton.

   • 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 14, in Bertram Cope’s Year‎, Chicago: R.F. Seymour, page 131:

     The past year or two had brought knitting-needles into countenance for men, and he saw no reason why he should not put a few hanks of yarn into shape useful for himself.

   • 1957, Nevil Shute, chapter 9, in On the Beach‎, New York: William Morrow:

     He found a hank of clothesline on a counter.

2. (nautical) A ring or shackle that secures a staysail to its stay and allows the sail to glide smoothly up and down.
3. (Ulster) Doubt, difficulty.
4. (Ulster) Mess, tangle.
5. A rope or withe for fastening a gate.
6. (obsolete) Hold; influence.
   • 1636 July, Robert Sanderson, “ Sermon IV. Beuvoyr, July 1636”, in XXXIV Sermons. , 5th edition, London: for A. Seil, and are to be sold by G. Sawbridge, , published 1671, →OCLC, paragraph 43, page 59:

     Seldom doth a man fall into a Preſumptuous Sin, but vvhere the Devil hath got ſuch a hanke over him, […]

7. (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.

Translations

Verb

hank (third-person singular simple present hanks, present participle hanking, simple past and past participle hanked)

1. (transitive) To form into hanks.
2. (transitive, UK, dialect) To fasten with a rope, as a gate.
   • 1573, Richard Dering, “Accounts Book”, in The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, John Nichols, published 1823:

     where stood a fyne howse newly built and vaulted, over wheron her armes was sett and hanked with tapestrye

Translations

Further reading

• hank (unit of measure) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Kahn, Khan, Nakh, ankh, khan

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse hǫnk.

Noun

hank f or m (definite singular hanka or hanken, indefinite plural hanker, definite plural hankene)

1. a handle (e.g. on a cup)

References

• “hank” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• hanke

Etymology

From Old Norse hanki.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑŋk/

Noun

hank m (definite singular hanken, indefinite plural hankar, definite plural hankane)
hank f (definite singular hanka, indefinite plural hanker, definite plural hankene)

1. a handle (e.g. on a cup)

References

• “hank” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.