hank

name

1. A diminutive of the male given name Henry.
2. (archaic)A diminutive of the male given name Hankin (a medieval form of John).

noun

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 […]”

   “Cotton twist is spun here of 130 hanks to the pound. Each hank is 840 yards long […]”

   “[…] her hair was as straight as a hank of cotton.”

   “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.”

   “He found a hank of clothesline on a counter.”

2. 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.

   “Seldom doth a man fall into a Preſumptuous Sin, but vvhere the Devil hath got ſuch a hanke over him, […]”

7. 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.

verb

1. (transitive)To form into hanks.
2. (UK, dialectal, transitive)To fasten with a rope, as a gate.

   “where stood a fyne howse newly built and vaulted, over wheron her armes was sett and hanked with tapestrye”