fanklen.
/ˈfaŋkl/, U.S. /ˈfæŋk(ə)l/, Scottish English /ˈfaŋkl/ Scottish.
A tangle. Frequently in extended use: a confused or muddled state; a predicament. Esp. in in (or into) a fankle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > [noun] > that which is entangled > a tangle
node1572
knarl1598
snarl1609
rivel1625
ravel1634
snick-snarl1649
mare1688
harla1697
tangle1757
round turn1769
fankle1824
twist1858
twitter1876
taut1887
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or complexity > instance of > and confused
snarl1631
tangle1757
twaddle1785
an ill-favoured pirn1828
muddle1857
fankle1890
tie-up1906
snarl-up1960
1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 202 When cloth is in unrid folds, it is said to be in a fankle.
1890 Glasgow Herald 17 July 4/1 The wrong person is accused of crime, and there is a terrible amount of trouble in unravelling the ‘fankle’ of the case.
1954 R. Jenkins Thistle & Grail (1994) 30 Human affairs aye get into a fankle.
1993 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 3 May 6 A skirt with too many splits shooting up from the hem is best avoided because, nearly always, it goes into a fankle about the knees.
2019 National (Scotl.) (Nexis) 26 July Britain has got itself into a right diplomatic fankle there with Iran.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
fanklev.
Sc.
trans. To tangle, entangle; to entrammel (a horse, etc.) with a rope; hence, to get fankled: fig. to lose the thread of a discourse (see Jamieson s.v.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > entangle or make tangled [verb (transitive)]
windc1315
harlc1400
snarlc1440
tangle1530
ravela1540
crawl1548
entangle1555
intertangle1589
enroot1600
impester1601
fasel1636
perplex1642
fankle1724
warple1768
hankle1781
intertwist1797
taffle1840
1724 A. Ramsay Henryson's Lyon & Mous in Ever Green I. 196 Our Ryal Lord..now is fast heir fanklet in a Cord [?a1500 bundin in presoun].
1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxiv, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 221 My long spurs..never got fankled.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online March 2013).
<
n.1824v.1724