skean

noun

1. 1.A quantity of yarn, thread, or the like, put up together, 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.
2. 2.A web, a weave, a tangle.
3. 3.The membrane of a fish ovary.
4. 4.(wagonmaking) A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle.
5. 5.(provincial England) A group of wild fowl, (e.g. geese, goslings) when they are in flight.