Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

Sep 14, 2005

This week's theme
Collective nouns

This week's words
sounder
covey
skein
bevy
skulk

---

Read it today

---

skein

noun:
1. A length of yarn wound around a reel.
2. A flock of geese, ducks, or other similar birds in flight.
3. Something suggesting complex twists and tangles.

From Middle English skeyine, from Old French escaigne.

NOTES: When in flight, geese are called a skein; when not in flight, a gaggle; and when flying in a V formation, they are referred to as a wedge. Ducks take a number of terms too: while in water, they are called a paddling.

"The article, described as a tale of 'bank fraud, oil trading, and bombs,' prompted Norman to follow a tangled skein of connections to a second, much broader, story."
Linda Grant; Newstrends: A Story You Won't Read in Forbes; Fortune (New York); Oct 2, 1995.

"Arrowhead skeins of geese fly northward and land at Walker Bay to breed." Bruce Thorson; Boom and Bus; Canadian Geographic (Ottawa); Mar 13, 1998.

See more usage examples of skein in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus