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,… xxti 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. Line composed of two or more rope-yarns not laid but simply twisted together by a winch or by hand.
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.
b. A line or cord of this kind.
1685. Capt. N. Boteler, Dial. Sea Services, 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.
