Yeoman
(Yeo"man) n.; pl. Yeomen [OE. yoman, &yogheman, &yoghoman; of uncertain origin; perhaps
the first, syllable is akin to OFries. ga district, region, G. gau, OHG. gewi, gouwi, Goth. gawi. &radic100.]
1. A common man, or one of the commonly of the first or most respectable class; a freeholder; a man
free born.
A yeoman in England is considered as next in order to the gentry. The word is little used in the United
States, unless as a title in law proceedings and instruments, designating occupation, and this only in
particular States.
2. A servant; a retainer. [Obs.]
A yeman hadde he and servants no mo.
Chaucer. 3. A yeoman of the guard; also, a member of the yeomanry cavalry. [Eng.]
4. (Naut.) An interior officer under the boatswain, gunner, or carpenters, charged with the stowage,
account, and distribution of the stores.
Yeoman of the guard, one of the bodyguard of the English sovereign, consisting of the hundred yeomen,
armed with partisans, and habited in the costume of the sixteenth century. They are members of the
royal household.
Yeomanlike
(Yeo"man*like`) a. Resembling, or suitable to, a yeoman; yeomanly.
Yeomanly
(Yeo"man*ly), a. Pertaining to a yeoman; becoming or suitable to, a yeoman; yeomanlike. B.
Jonson.
Well could he dress his tackle yeomanly.
Chaucer. Yeomanry
(Yeo"man*ry) n.
1. The position or rank of a yeoman. [Obs.] "His estate of yeomanry." Chaucer.
2. The collective body of yeomen, or freeholders.
The enfranchised yeomanry began to feel an instinct for dominion.
Bancroft. 3. The yeomanry cavalry. [Eng.]
Yeomanry cavalry, certain bodies of volunteer cavalry liable to service in Great Britain only. [Eng.]
Yeorling
(Yeor"ling) n. [Cf. Yellow.] (Zoöl.) The European yellow-hammer.
Yer
(Yer) prep. Ere; before. [Obs.] Sylvester.
Yerba
(||Yer"ba) n. [Sp.] (Bot.) An herb; a plant.
This word is much used in compound names of plants in Spanish; as, yerba buena [Sp., a good herb], a
name applied in Spain to several kinds of mint (Mentha sativa, viridis, etc.), but in California universally
applied to a common, sweet- scented labiate plant
Yerba dol osa. [Sp., herb of the she-bear.] A kind of buckthorn — Yerba mansa. [Sp., a mild herb,
soft herb.] A plant (Anemopsis Californica) with a pungent, aromatic rootstock, used medicinally by the
Mexicans and the Indians. — Yerba reuma. [Cf. Sp. reuma rheum, rheumatism.] A low California
undershrub (Frankenia grandifolia).
