skein

Plural: skeins

Noun

• coils of worsted yarn
• A quantity of yarn, thread, etc. put up together in an oblong shape, after it is taken from the reel. A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread around a fifty-four inch reel.
• A web, a weave, a tangle.
• The membrane of a fish ovary.
• A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle.
• A group of wild fowl (e.g. geese, goslings) when they are in flight.
• A winning streak.
• A series created by a web (major broadcasting network).

Verb

• To wind or weave into a skein.
• -ED, -ING, -S to wind into long, loose coils