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yarn

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
yarn, fibers or filaments formed into a continuous strand for use in weaving textiles or for the manufacture of thread. A staple fiber fiber, threadlike strand, usually pliable and capable of being spun into a yarn. Many different fibers are known to be usable; some 40 of these are of commercial importance, and others are of local or specialized use.
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, such as cotton, linen, or wool, is made into yarn by carding carding, process by which fibers are opened, cleaned, and straightened in preparation for spinning. The fingers were first used, then a tool of wood or bone shaped like a hand, then two flat pieces of wood (cards) covered with skin set with thorns or teeth.
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, combing combing, process that follows carding in the preparation of fibers for spinning, lays the fibers parallel, and removes noils (short fibers). The modern combing machine is a specialized carding machine.
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 (for fine, long staples only), drawing out into roving, then spinning spinning, the drawing out, twisting, and winding of fibers into a continuous thread or yarn. From antiquity until the Industrial Revolution, spinning was a household industry.
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. Continuous filaments, such as silk, rayon, and nylon, may be formed directly into yarn or may be cut into short lengths and prepared like staple fibers. Yarns are twisted to give them strength and smoothness; a clockwise twist is known as the Z twist and a counterclockwise twist is known as the S twist. Two or more strands twisted together form ply yarns. In slub yarns areas are left untwisted to vary the diameter for ornamental effects. Complex yarns, such as bouclé and ratiné, are made by twisting together yarns of different tensions or diameters. The relation between the weight of the raw fiber of staple yarns and the yarn length is expressed by the yarn number; the finer the yarn, the higher the number. In filament yarns the yarn number, expressed in deniers, increases with the coarseness of the yarn.

yarn

Continuous strand of fibres grouped or twisted together and used to construct textile fabrics. Yarns are made from both natural and synthetic fibres, in filament or staple form. Filament is very long fibre, including the natural fibre silk and the synthetic fibres. Most fibres that occur in nature are fairly short, or staple, and synthetic fibres may be cut into short, uniform lengths to form staple. Spinning is the process of drawing out and twisting a mass of cleaned, prepared fibres. Filament yarns generally require less twist than do staple yarns. More twist produces stronger yarn; low twist produces softer, shinier yarn. Two or more single strands may be twisted together to form ply yarn. Knitting yarns have less twist than weaving yarns. Thread, used for sewing, is a tightly twisted ply yarn.


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Yet, notwithstanding the familiarity of sailors with all sorts of curious adventure, the incidents recorded in the following pages have often served, when 'spun as a yarn,' not only to relieve the weariness of many a night-watch at sea, but to excite the warmest sympathies of the author's shipmates.
Then the mice told her that the witch had a cat, and the cat was very fond of ham; if she would give the cat her ham, it would show her the way out of the wood, and in the meantime they would spin the yarn for her.
So he drifted back to his wild young days, and spun many a rare yarn for me, while we downed beer, treat by treat, all through a blessed summer afternoon.
 
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