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A quantity of yarn, thread, or the like, put up together, after it is taken from the reel, -- usually tied in a sort of knot.

See Skean.

A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon. [Obs.] Silkworms finish their bottoms in . . . fifteen days. Mortimer.

A skein of yarn. Wright. A cut in rates (Railroad), a reduction in fare, freight charges, etc., below the established rates. -- A short cut, a cross route which shortens the way and cuts off a circuitous passage. -- The cut of one's jib, the general appearance of a person. [Colloq.] -- To draw cuts, to draw lots, as…

or interlaced; to reduce to orderly arrangement; to straighten out; as, to disentangle a skein of yarn.

A parcel consisting of two or more skeins of yarn or thread tied together.

To make intricate; to entangle. They disentangle from the puzzled skein. Cowper. The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, Puzzled in mazes, and perplexed with error. Addison.

A lay or skein containing 120 yards of yarn. Knight.

A skein or hank of rope yarns wound round with yarns or marline, -- used for stoppers, straps, etc.

See Skein. [Obs.]

To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots; as, to snarl a skein of thread. "Her snarled hair." Spenser.

tricate. [Obs.] Clarendon. -- To wind up. (a) To coil into a ball or small compass, as a skein of thread; to coil completely. (b) To bring to a conclusion or settlement; as, to wind up one's affairs; to wind up an argument. (c) To put in a state of renewed or continued motion, as a clock, a watch, etc., by winding the…