!!? My (older) OED doesn’t suggest this.
And otherwise, I find direction to “strap”,
and at best a definition simply saying that ends are joined.
ONE thing that might capture all the senses --joined ends,
eyes at ends of structure, and relative width–,
is the structure sometimes seen where a loop of rope
with ends joined will be oriented as a severely eliptical
shape and bound in the middle such that at each end
there are, effectively, eyes! The doubled material presents
width.
(I recall, but in a quick search, didn’t find, what I thought
was in Ashely showing loose material being bound together
to form (IIRC) a “strop” --though that term isn’t in ABOK’s
Index (!).)
Interesting.