Hank
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A coil or loop of something, especially twine, yarn, or rope.
"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 […]"
- 2 a coil of rope or wool or yarn wordnet
- 3 A ring or shackle that secures a staysail to its stay and allows the sail to glide smoothly up and down.
- 4 Doubt, difficulty. Ulster
- 5 Mess, tangle. Ulster
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- 6 A rope or withe for fastening a gate.
- 7 Hold; influence. obsolete
"Seldom doth a man fall into a Preſumptuous Sin, but vvhere the Devil hath got ſuch a hanke over him, […]"
- 8 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.
- 1 To form into hanks. transitive
- 2 To fasten with a rope, as a gate. UK, dialectal, transitive
"where stood a fyne howse newly built and vaulted, over wheron her armes was sett and hanked with tapestrye"
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Henry.
- 2 A diminutive of the male given name Hankin (a medieval form of John). archaic
Example
More examples"Bob and Hank are duking it out in the alley behind the bar."
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.
Related phrases
More for "hank"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.