In Old English ye was used only as a nominative, and you only as a dative or objective. In the 16th
century, however, ye and you became confused and were often used interchangeably, both as nominatives
and objectives, and you has now superseded ye except in solemn or poetic use. See You, and also
the first Note under Thou.
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye.
Shak.
I come, kind gentlemen, strange news to tell ye.
Dryden. Ye
(Ye) adv. [See Yea.] Yea; yes. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Yea
(Yea) adv. [OE. ye, ya, &yoghe, &yogha, AS. geá; akin to OFries. ge, ie, OS., D., OHG., G.,
Dan. & Sw. ja, Icel, ja, Goth. ja, jai, and probably to Gr. "h^ truly, verily. &radic188. Cf. Yes.]
1. Yes; ay; a word expressing assent, or an affirmative, or an affirmative answer to a question, now superseded
by yes. See Yes.
Let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay.
Matt. v. 37. 2. More than this; not only so, but; — used to mark the addition of a more specific or more emphatic
clause. Cf. Nay, adv., 2.
I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
Phil. i. 18. Yea sometimes introduces a clause, with the sense of indeed, verily, truly. "Yea, hath God said, Ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Gen. iii. 1.
Yea
(Yea), n. An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative; as, a vote by yeas and nays.
In the Scriptures, yea is used as a sign of certainty or stability. "All the promises of God in him are
yea, and in him Amen." 2 Cor. i. 20.
Yead
(Yead) v. i. Properly, a variant of the defective imperfect yode, but sometimes mistaken for a
present. See the Note under Yede. [Obs.]
Years yead away and faces fair deflower.
Drant. Yean
(Yean) v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Yeaned ; p. pr. & vb. n. Yeaning.] [AS. eánian, or geeánian; perhaps
akin to E. ewe, or perhaps to L. agnus, Gr. . Cf. Ean.] To bring forth young, as a goat or a sheep; to
ean. Shak.
Yeanling
(Yean"ling) n. [Yean + - ling. Cf. Eanling.] A lamb or a kid; an eanling. Shak.
Year
(Year) n. [OE. yer, yeer, &yogher, AS. geár; akin to OFries. ir, gr, D. jaar, OHG. jar, G. jahr,
Icel. ar, Dan. aar, Sw. år, Goth. jr, Gr. a season of the year, springtime, a part of the day, an hour,
a year, Zend yare year. &radic4, 279. Cf. Hour, Yore.]
1. The time of the apparent revolution of the sun trough the ecliptic; the period occupied by the earth in
making its revolution around the sun, called the astronomical year; also, a period more or less nearly
agreeing with this, adopted by various nations as a measure of time, and called the civil year; as, the
common lunar year of 354 days, still in use among the Mohammedans; the year of 360 days, etc. In
common usage, the year consists of 365 days, and every fourth year (called bissextile, or leap year) of
366 days, a day being added to February on that year, on account of the excess above 365 days (see
Bissextile).
Of twenty year of age he was, I guess.
Chaucer.
