hank

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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]

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