Note: "The fine distinction between `yea' and `yes,' `nay' and `no,' that once existed in English, has quite disappeared. `Yea' and `nay' in Wyclif's time, and a good deal later, were the answers to questions framed in the affirmative. `Will he come' To this it would have been replied, `Yea' or `Nay', as the case might be. But, `Will he not come' To this the answer would have been `Yes' or `No.' Sir Thomas More finds fault with Tyndale, that in his translation of the Bible he had not observed this distinction, which was evidently therefore going out even then, that is, in the reign of Henry VIII.; and shortly after it was quite forgotten." Trench.
YEST
Yest, n.
Defn: See Yeast. Shak.
YESTER
Yes"ter, a. Etym: [See Yesterday.]
Defn: Last; last past; next before; of or pertaining to yesterday.
[An enemy] whom yester sun beheld Mustering her charms. Dryden.
Note: This word is now seldom used except in a few compounds; as, yesterday, yesternight, etc.
YESTERDAY Yes"ter*day, n. Etym: [OE. ýisterdai, AS. geostran dæg, from geostran, geostra, giestran, gistran, gystran, yesterday (akin to D. gisteren, G. gestern, OHG. gestaron, Icel. gær yesterday, to-morrow, Goth. gistradagis to-morrow, L. heri yesterday, Gr. hyas) + dæg day. Cf. Hestern.
1. The day last past; the day next before the present. All our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Shak. We are but of yesterday, and know nothing. Job viii. 9.
2. Fig.: A recent time; time not long past. The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of supreme pontiffs. Macaulay.
YESTERDAY
Yes"ter*day, adv.