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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To pull with a quick, strong movement; jerk: yanked the emergency cord.
  2. v. Slang To extract or remove abruptly: yanked the starting pitcher early in the game.
  3. v. To pull on something suddenly. See Synonyms at jerk1.
  4. n. A sudden vigorous pull; a jerk.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To be in active motion; move or work quickly; bustle.
  2. To talk fast or constantly; scold; nag.
  3. To move, carry, bring, take, etc., with a sudden jerk or jerking motion: usually with along, over, or out: as, to yank a fish out of the water.
  4. n. A quick, sharp stroke; a buffet.
  5. n. A jerk or twitch.
  6. n. plural Leggings or long gaiters worn in England by agricultural laborers.
  7. n. A Yankee.
  8. n. [The word acquired during the war of the rebellion wide currency as a nickname or contemptuous epithet among the Confederates for a Union soldier, the Confederates themselves being in like spirit dubbed Johnnies or Rebs by the Union soldiers.]

Wiktionary

  1. n. A sudden, vigorous pull (sometimes defined as mass times jerk, or rate of change of force).
  2. v. transitive To pull something with a quick, strong action.
  3. v. transitive to remove from circulation

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Colloq. U. S. A jerk or twitch.
  2. v. Colloq. U. S. To twitch; to jerk.
  3. n. Slang An abbreviation of Yankee.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. pull, or move with a sudden movement
  2. n. an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War)
  3. n. an American (especially to non-Americans)

Etymologies

  1. Attested since 1822 CE; from Scots. Unknown origin. (Wiktionary)
  2. Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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‘yank’ has been looked up 2659 times, added to 17 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 11.