Y
yall; see [yawl].
yarage (applied to ships), the capability of being managed at sea; ‘Light of yarage’, North, Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 35 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 208); ‘heavy of yarage’, id., § 35 (p. 211).
yare, quick, ready. A word freq. used by Shaks., often given to sailors. Temp. v. 1. 224; Meas. for M. v. 2. 61; ‘The lesser ship . . . is yare, whereas the greater is slow’, Ralegh (Nares); yarely, readily, Temp. i. 1. 4. Yare is in prov. use in the north (EDD.). ME. yare, ready: ‘Terens let make his shippes yare’ (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2270;. OE. gearu, ready, equipped.
yark, to jerk. Drayton, Pol. vi. 51; to pull forcibly as shoemakers do in securing the stitches of their work; ‘Yark and seam, yark and seam’ (Eyre); ‘For yarking and seaming let me alone’ (Firk), Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1. See the story of Watt Tinlinn in note to Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel, iv. 4. In reply to the Englishman’s taunt, ‘Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots’, Watt retorted, discharging a shaft which nailed the captain’s thigh to his saddle, ‘If I cannot sew, I can yerk’. As sb. a jerk; ‘Tire, a kick, yark, jerk’, Cotgrave. See [yerk].
yarum, yarrum, a cant term for milk; see [popler].
yate, gate. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224. In prov. use in the north and in the north Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Gate, sb.1 1 (9)). ME. ȝate, a gate (Wyclif, Ps. cxvii. 20). OE. geat.
yaw (of a ship), to move unsteadily; used fig. Hamlet, v. 2. 120; a devious course, Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). Icel. jaga, to move to and fro (as a door on its hinges).
yaw, to cut down; yawde, for yawed, pp., Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1206. (In the next line we have sawde for sawn, pp.) In Hants. and Devon ‘yaw’ is the prov. pronunc. of ‘hew’, and is used in the sense of mowing or cutting wheat with one hand and with a reaping-hook, see EDD. (s.v. Hew, vb.1 4).
yawd, a nag, a ‘jade’. Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (Randal). In prov. use in the north, see EDD, (s.v. Yad). The same word as ‘jade’. Yawd is derived directly from Icel. jalda, a mare, whereas jade comes to us through northern French: jalda < *jaude < jade.
yawfrow, a young lady, a mistress. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1. Du. joffrouw, a gentlewoman, mistress, miss; jonkvrouw, a young lady; Jonkvrouw A., Miss A. (Sewel).
yawl, to howl, bawl; to scream like an infant; spelt yall, Death of E. of Huntington, i. 3 (Doncaster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 242; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 22; yawling, a bawling, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Margery). In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Yawl, vb.1 1).
yblent, obscured; ‘The faithfull light of that faire lampe yblent’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 1; blinded, ‘With love yblent’, id., Shep. Kal., April, 155. See [blend].
ybowne, ready to depart. Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 140. ME. boun, ready to go (Chaucer, C. T. F. 1503). See Dict. (s.v. Bound, 3).
y-clept, y-clep’d, called, named. Milton, L’Allegro, 12. Spelt y-clipped; Ram-Alley, iii. 1 (Puff). See [clepe].
y-cond, taught. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 11. (Misused; to con is to learn.) See [cond].
yearn, to vex, grieve; ‘It would yearn your heart’, Merry Wives, iii. 5. 45; ‘It yearn’d my heart’, Richard II, v. 5. 76 (in quartos ernd); ‘It yearns me not’, Hen. V, iv. 3. 26. Hence yearnful (yernful), mournful, Greene, A Maiden’s Dream, st. 7. See [earn] (to grieve).
yearne, to give tongue as hounds do, to bay, Turbervile, Hunting (ed. 1575, pp. 181, 186, 240); see [yorning].
yearne, to earn. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 40; vi. 7. 15. OE. ge-earnian, earnian, to earn.
yede, yeed, improperly used as an infin., to go. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 5; ii. 4. 2 yeade, pr. pl. (improp. used), Shep. Kal., July, 109; yode, pt. s. went, id., May, 22, 233; yod, Golding, Metam. vi. 330. ME. yede, went (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1141); ȝede, ȝeode (P. Plowman), OE. ge-ēode (and ēode), went. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Eode).
yeding, going. Sackville, Mirror of Mag., Induction, st. 30.
yelden, submissive; ‘The fierce lion will hurt no yelden thinges’ (i.e. creatures that have submitted), Sir T. Wyatt, To his ladie cruel over her Yelden Lover, 4; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 62. See [yold].
yellow. Bands dyed with yellow starch, much used by Mrs. Turner, became unfashionable when that infamous woman was hung (Nov. 15, 1615) for being concerned in the murder of Sir Thos. Overbury; but not very long after they were again in use. ‘Hateful As yellow bands’, The Widow, v. 1 (Martia); ‘Disliked your yellow starch’, Beaumont and Fl., Queen of Corinth, iv. 1 (Tutor).
yellow breeches, to wear, to be jealous. Massinger, Duke of Milan, iv. 2 (Stephano). Yellow, as the hue of jealousy, Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, ii. 2. 14.
yellow-hammer, (jocosely) a gold coin. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (2 Guard).
yellowness, jealousy. Merry Wives, i. 3. 111.
yellow-pate, the yellow-hammer, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 75.
yellows, jaundice in cattle. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 54. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Yellow, 4).
yelt, a young sow; ‘A youngling yelt of brestled sow’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 170. In prov. use in the north and in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Gilt, sb.1).
yeoman-fewterer, the man who, under the huntsman, took care of the dogs, and let them slip at the right moment. Massinger, Picture, v. 1 (Ricardo); Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page); B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, ii. 3. See Nares (s.v.), and [fewterer].
yerde, a rod, a staff. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 6. ME. yerde (Chaucer). OE. gierd, a rod.
yerk, yirk, to lash with a whip. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 44; Marston, Sat. i. 3, p. 184 (Nares); yarke, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 489. Hence, yerking preferment, a promotion to punishment with a whip, Shirley, Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); to kick out strongly, Hen. V, iv. 7. 84; Tusser, Husbandry, § 64; to thrust smartly, Othello, i. 2. 5. This word is in prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland, pronounced in many ways, with the meanings (among others), to jerk, to pull forcibly; to lash with a switch or whip, to kick as a horse does, see EDD. (s.v. Yark, vb.1 1, 5, 7). See [yark].
yert: in comb. yert-point, lit. ‘jerk-point’; the name of a childish game; perhaps similar to blow-point. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Fricase). It may have been a name for spelicans. ‘Yert’ belongs to the group of words: jerk, yerk, jert, see Cotgrave (s.v. Tire).
yfere, together. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 1; vi. 6. 31; Shep. Kal., April, 68; Sackville, Induction, st. 74. ME. yfere, together (Chaucer, C. T. B. 394), also in-fere (C. T. B. 328, D. 924); orig. in fere, in company. OE. on heora gefére, in their company (Luke ii. 44).
yfet, pp. fetched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 647. See [fet].
yield, to reward; ‘The gods yield you for’t’, Ant. and Cl. iv. 2. 23; spelt ’ild, ‘How do you pretty lady?—Well, God ’ild you!’, Hamlet, iv. 5. 41; Macbeth, i. 6. 13. ‘God yield you’ is still in prov. use in Cheshire (EDD.). ME. God yelde yow, God requite you (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1772).
ying, young; ‘The lilly . . rysing fresche and ying’, Dunbar, The Thistle and the Rose, 22. ME. ȝing, young (Barbour’s Bruce, xx. 41).
yirk; see [yerk].
ylike, alike, all the same; ‘Ylike to me was libertee and lyfe’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 36; F. Q. i. 4. 27. ME. yliche (ylike), like, similar; also as adv., alike, in like manner (P. Plowman). OE. gelīc, similar, equal; gelīce, equally, in the same way, in a similar way.
ynde, indigo, dark blue. Morte Arthur, leaf 114, back. 27; bk. vii, c. 11. OF. inde, ‘de couleur d’azur’ (Didot); Med. L. indium, ‘genus coloris caerulei’ (Ducange), for L. indicum, indigo, orig. of India, Indian.
yod; see [yede].
yold, pt. t. yielded. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 25. As pp., id., vii. 7. 30. ME. ȝolden, pt. pl. and pp. of ȝelden, to yield (Wars Alex. 2326, 2378). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. ȝelden).
yomenne, ‘yeomen’; the pawns in the game of chess. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, Prol. 20.
yond. This word occurs in the following passages: ‘Then like a lyon . . . wexeth wood and yond’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 40; ‘As Florimel fled from that monster yond’, id., iii. 7. 26; ‘Those three brethren, Lombards fierce and yond’, Fairfax, tr. Tasso, i. 55. It seems to be a synonym of ‘fierce’.
yond, yonder, thither. Tempest, i. 2. 409; Richard II, iii. 3. 91. In prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland (EDD.). ME. yond, yonder (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1099). OE. geond, ‘illuc’ (Matt. xxvi. 86, Rushworth).
yorning, giving tongue as hounds do. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, § 5; see Croft’s Glossary. See [yearne] (1).
yote, to water, soak; ‘Yoted wheat’, Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 760. A west-country word, ‘The brewer’s grains must be well yoted for the pigs’, Grose (1790), see EDD. See below.
yoten, pp. melted. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 5. ME. ȝotun, molten (Wyclif, Job xli. 6, Ps. cv. 19), pp. of yeten, to pour (Chaucer), OE. gēotan.
youl, to howl, to squall like an infant. All Mistaken, i. 1 (near end); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 337. Hence youling, ib., i. 1 (Philidor); in the same, xv. 332. In gen. prov. use in all English-speaking countries; see EDD. (s.v. Yowl). ME. youling, loud lamentation (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1278).
youngth, yongth, youth. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 20; Muiopotmos, 34. ME. ȝongthe (Wyclif, Luke xviii. 21).
ypight, pp. pitched, placed. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 33. See [pight].
ysam, together. Spelt ysame (riming with ram and swam). Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 32. See [sam]. ME. ysamme, together (P. Plowman, A. x. 193), OE. samen, together (Sweet).
y-vound, found. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Medlay).
ywus, ‘ywis’, certainly. Golding, Metam. i. 754 (riming with thus), fol. 13, back (1603). See [iwis].