Adjacent Words

Yank definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War) [syn: Yankee, Yank, Northerner]
2: an American (especially to non-Americans) [syn: Yankee, Yank, Yankee-Doodle] v
1: pull, or move with a sudden movement; "He turned the handle and jerked the door open" [syn: yank, jerk]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1778 Yankee

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1822 intransitive verb to pull on something with a quick vigorous movement transitive verb 1. to pull or extract with a quick vigorous movement 2. to remove in or as if in an abrupt manner <yanked the story from the evening edition> II. noun Date: circa 1864 a strong sudden pull ; jerk

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. colloq. often derog. an inhabitant of the US; an American. Etymology: abbr.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. colloq. --v.tr. pull with a jerk. --n. a sudden hard pull. Etymology: 19th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yank Yank, n. [Cf. Scot. yank a sudden and severe blow.] A jerk or twitch. [Colloq. U. S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yank Yank, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Yanked; p. pr. & vb. n. Yanking.] To twitch; to jerk. [Colloq. U. S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yank Yank, n. An abbreviation of Yankee. [Slang]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(yanks, yanking, yanked) If you yank someone or something somewhere, you pull them there suddenly and with a lot of force. She yanked open the drawer... A quick-thinking ticket inspector yanked an emergency cord. VERB: V n with adj, V n, also V at n • Yank is also a noun. Grabbing his ponytail, Shirley gave it a yank. N-COUNT

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(Yanks) Some people refer to people from the United States of America as Yanks. This use could cause offence. (INFORMAL) N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

bob, clutch, evulse, flick, flip, flirt, flounce, grab, hitch, jerk, jig, jigger, jigget, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, lug, lurch, pluck, pull, snake, snap, snatch, start, sudden pull, tear, tug, tweak, twitch, vellicate, wrench, yerk