spun-yarn, spunyarn
Also 4 north. sponegarn.
[f. spun ppl. a.]
1. Yarn fabricated by the process of spinning.
| 1376 Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 584 In ij lib. de Sponegarn empt. per plumbar. pro aqua ductu ligand. iij s. 1541–2 Invent. in Lanc. & Chesh. Wills (Chetham Soc.) 81, xxx pond of sponnen fyne wollen yorne,..xxii pound of spennen yorne. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. i. 21 The business of working up the spun-yarn into woven fabrics. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 78 A staid country-woman exchanging her spunyarn..for various commodities. |
2. Naut. a. Line composed of two or more rope-yarns not laid but simply twisted together by a winch or by hand. Also
Comb., as
spun-yarn major,
spun-yarn trick (slang): see
quots. 1929, 1925;
spun-yarn winch (see
quot. 1846).
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 25 Spunyarne is nothing but rope yarne made small at the ends, and so spun one to another so long as you will with a winch. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 155 Spun Yarn, for every Inch the Main Stay is in Di[ameter], allow 5 Hundred Weight. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. ii. 133 We had not a sufficient quantity of junk to make spun-yarn. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Pudening, It is..served with spun⁓yarn throughout its whole length. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iii, He has to furnish them with spunyarn, marline, and all other stuffs that they need in their work. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvii. (1856) 226 Although the chains of captivity, made of spun-yarn and leather, set hardly upon him. |
| Comb. 1772–84 Cook's Voy. (1790) IV. 1381 The bolt belonging to the spun-yarn winch. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iii, Every vessel is furnished with a ‘spun-yarn winch’. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 368 A small winch with a fly wheel is used in making rope or spunyarn: it gets the name of a spunyarn-winch. 1916 In Northern Mists xvi. 63 The practice has been known of getting everything ready the night before and the proper fastenings replaced with pieces of spunyarn which can be cut with a sailor knife as soon as the signal is made. Of course, it is not playing the game: that's a ‘spunyarn trick’. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 267 Spun yarn tricks, underhand dealing. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 132 Spun-yarn major, a lieutenant-commander in the Navy. 1942 ‘Sea Wrack’ Six Bells 163 Above her head sounded the drumming foot⁓steps of Tommy and his crew of spunyarn majors as they clattered round the decks securing stays. |
b. A line or cord of this kind.
| 1685 N. Boteler Dial. Sea Service 163 As for the Spun-yarns, they are a kind of Rope-yarn [etc.]. 1805 Naval Chron. XIII 80 She did not strain a spun-yarn. |