Yama
(||Ya"ma) n. [Skr. yama a twin.] (Hindoo Myth.) The king of the infernal regions, corresponding
to the Greek Pluto, and also the judge of departed souls. In later times he is more exclusively considered
the dire judge of all, and the tormentor of the wicked. He is represented as of a green color, with red
garments, having a crown on his head, his eyes inflamed, and sitting on a buffalo, with a club and noose
in his hands.
Yamma
(Yam"ma) n. [See Llama.] (Zoöl.) The llama.
Yamp
(Yamp) n. (Bot.) An umbelliferous plant (Carum Gairdneri); also, its small fleshy roots, which are
eaten by the Indians from Idaho to California.
Yang
(Yang) n. [Of imitative origin.] The cry of the wild goose; a honk.
Yang
(Yang), v. i. To make the cry of the wild goose.
Yank
(Yank) n. [Cf. Scot. yank a sudden and severe blow.] A jerk or twitch. [Colloq. U. S.]
Yank
(Yank), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Yanked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Yanking.] To twitch; to jerk. [Colloq. U.
S.]
Yank
(Yank), n. An abbreviation of Yankee. [Slang]
Yankee
(Yan"kee) n. [Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of
the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin,
a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers
of New York. Dr. W. Gordon ("Hist. of the Amer. War," ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a
favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant excellent; as, a yankee
good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov.
E. bow-yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.] A nickname for a native or citizen of
New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of
the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any
inhabitant of the United States.
From meanness first this Portsmouth Yankey rose,
And still to meanness all his conduct flows.
Oppression,
A poem by an American Yankee
(Yan"kee), a. Of or pertaining to a Yankee; characteristic of the Yankees.
The alertness of the Yankee aspect.
Hawthorne. Yankee clover. (Bot.) See Japan clover, under Japan.
Yankee-Doodle
(Yan`kee-Doo"dle) n.
1. The name of a tune adopted popularly as one of the national airs of the United States.
