wyte, to blame; see [wite].
X
xeriff, a ‘Sherif’, a title of the descendants of Mohammed. Dryden, Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Muley-Moluch); id., Conquest of Granada, i. 1. Xarife, the Spanish way of writing [sherif] (q.v.), Port. xarife, ‘chérif’ (Roquette).
xeriff, a Portuguese coin worth about 300 reis (Portuguese). Dryden, Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha), Port. xarafím, Arab, sharîfî or ashrafî, a gold coin often mentioned in the Arabian Nights, see Dozy, Glossaire, 353; cp. Med. L. seraphus, in Baumgarten, Peregrinatio, 23; see Dozy, Glossaire, p. 534. See Stanford (s.v. Xerafin).
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].