skein
Americannoun
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a length of yarn or thread wound on a reel or swift preparatory for use in manufacturing.
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anything wound in or resembling such a coil.
a skein of hair.
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something suggestive of the twistings of a skein.
an incoherent skein of words.
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a flock of geese, ducks, or the like, in flight.
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a succession or series of similar or interrelated things.
a skein of tennis victories.
noun
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a length of yarn, etc, wound in a long coil
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something resembling this, such as a lock of hair
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a flock of geese flying Compare gaggle
Etymology
Origin of skein
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English skeyne, skayne, from Middle French escaigne; further origin unknown
Explanation
A skein is a ball of coiled yarn. If it weren’t for the skein, the world would be full of tangled messes of yarn that would take hours to untangle before you could start your knitting. Whether you use a skein (rhymes with “rain”) to keep your yarn separated and organized, or as something for your cat to play with, may be a sign of how often you knit. Skein can take on a metaphorical sense: The character Sherlock Holmes said, “There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
Vocabulary lists containing skein
Esperanza Rising
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"Arachne"
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"Marigolds" by Eugenia Coller
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The country also has developed a vibrant civil society, the skein of citizen-run, nongovernmental organizations and associations that infuse a healthy democracy with pluralism, participation and political vigor.
From Washington Post • Feb. 12, 2023
A skein of ropes is systematically assembled by the ensemble as scrolls are unrolled to illustrate the science of perspective.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2023
Held in the mesh of gravity and spin, a skein of quantum magnetic charge, the Muon persists, outlives its foreseeable wobble.
From Scientific American • Feb. 5, 2022
The two C’s in this third thread share not just a letter but also hooves and horns with Chapman from the first — a sign of the skein of connections Bell builds his novel around.
From New York Times • Jul. 13, 2021
While they wait for the train Elizabeth takes out her knitting needles and a skein of deep red wool.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
