Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
spun yarn

spun yarn

7.7
A thin, light rope used on ships to tie or secure small things
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : hilo torcido
  • The sailor used a piece of spun yarn to secure the sails during the storm.
  • ring-spun yarn

Examples

  • To repair the boat, they chose a strong spun yarn for lashing the equipment.

  • The crew bought several rolls of spun yarn for various small tasks on the vessel.

  • The sailor used spun yarn to secure the rigging on the ship’s deck.

  • They carried a coil of spun yarn as part of their standard maintenance kit on board.

  • Traditional ship repairs often relied on spun yarn for making seizings and serving lines.

  • The sailor used spun yarn to secure the sail.

  • We bought some spun yarns for our boating trip.

Synonyms

rope
vsspun yarn
614 1.0

A thick strong cord made by twisting fibers used for tying or pulling

is lighter and less strong made for small lashings and seizings
yarn
vsspun yarn
42 1.8

A long thread of twisted fibers like wool used for knitting

is a light twisted line meant for small nautical lashings rather than sewing

How Strong

cable
  • Specialized
282 2.4
rope
614 1.0
spun yarn
  • Specialized
7.7
cord
176 1.0
twine
28 3.2
thread
80 1.0

Surface Forms

spun yarn singular
spun yarns plural

Morphology

spin + yarn

The phrase 'spun yarn' is a straightforward composition of 'spun' (twisted/drawn fibers) + 'yarn' (thread), so its basic meaning — yarn that has been spun or twisted — is directly derivable from the constituents. Although the dictionary sense is a specialized nautical use (a lightweight rope made from yarns), the core compositional meaning is transparent and predictable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Spun yarn comes from the image of threads that are spun into yarn and then loosely twisted together, which sailors used as thin rope to tie small parts of a ship. So, spun yarn now means 'a lightweight rope used for small tying or repairs'.