skein

A length of thread or yarn wound in a loose long coil.

Something suggesting the coil of a skein; a complex tangle.

A flock of geese or similar birds in flight.

An obsolete form of skean.

A fixed length of any thread or yarn of silk, wool, linen, or cotton, doubled again and again and knotted.

A flight or company: said of certain wild fowl, as geese or ducks.

A shaved split of osier used in wickerwork.

In a vehicle, the iron head or thimble upon the end of a wooden axletree, inclusive of the straps by which it is attached to the axle, and which, being set in recesses flush with the wood, afford hearing surfaces for the box in the hub.

To wind (yarn) into hanks of definite lengths other than the normal.