Wiktionary

hank

See also: Hank

EnglishEdit

 

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English hank, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse hǫnk, hank; akin to Old English hangian (“to hang”). First known use: 14th century.

PronunciationEdit

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

NounEdit

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, The History of the Parishes of Whiteford, and Holywell, London: B. and J. White, “History of Holywell Parish,” p. 217,[2]
      Cotton twist is spun here of 130 hanks to the pound. Each hank is 840 yards long […]
    • 1859, George Eliot, Adam Bede, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Volume 1, Chapter 9, p. 181,[3]
      […] her hair was as straight as a hank of cotton.
    • 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, Bertram Cope’s Year, Chicago: R.F. Seymour, Chapter 14, p. 131,[4]
      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, On the Beach, New York: William Morrow, Chapter 9,[5]
      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.

TranslationsEdit

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

VerbEdit

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, published in 1823, John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth
      where stood a fyne howse newly built and vaulted, over wheron her armes was sett and hanked with tapestrye

TranslationsEdit

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

Norwegian BokmålEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Norse hǫnk.

NounEdit

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

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

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Norse hanki.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

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)

ReferencesEdit

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=hank&oldid=72169539"