Wiktionary

hank

See also: Hank

English edit

 

Etymology edit

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 edit

  • IPA(key): /hæŋk/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æŋk

Noun edit

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,[1]
      […] 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[2], 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[3], 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[4], 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[5], 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, “[Ad Aulam.] Sermon IV. Beuvoyr, July 1636”, in XXXIV Sermons. […], 5th edition, London: […] [A. Clark] 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 edit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

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 edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Etymology edit

From Old Norse hǫnk.

Noun edit

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

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

References edit

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old Norse hanki.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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 edit

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=hank&oldid=78414501"