hank

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
hank/haŋk/

▶noun

• 1 a coil or skein of wool, hair, or other material.

• 2 a measurement of the length per unit mass of cloth or yarn (equal to 840 yards for cotton yarn and 560 yards for worsted).

• 3 Sailing a ring for securing a staysail to the stay.

– origin ME: from ON hǫnk; cf. Swed. hank ‘string’ and Dan. hank ‘handle’.