Adjacent Words

Yoke definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

YOKE, n. [G., L., Gr.]
1. A piece of timber, hollowed or made curving near each end, and fitted with bows for receiving the necks of oxen; by which means two are connected for drawing. From a ring or hook in the bow, a chain extends to the thing to be drawn, or to the yoke of another pair of oxen behind.
2. A mark of servitude; slavery; bondage.
Our country sinks beneath the yoke.
3. A chain; a link; a bond of connection; as the yoke of marriage.
4. A couple; a pair; as a yoke of oxen.
5. Service.
My yoke is easy. Matthew 11.
YOKE, v.t.
1. To put a yoke on; to join in a yoke; as, to yoke oxen, or a pair of oxen.
2. To couple; to join with another.
Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb.
3. To enslave; to bring into bondage.
4. To restrain; to confine. Libertines like not to be yoked in marriage.
The words and promises that yoke the conqueror, are quickly broke.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: fabric comprising a fitted part at the top of a garment
2: an oppressive power; "under the yoke of a tyrant"; "they threw off the yoke of domination"
3: two items of the same kind [syn: couple, pair, twosome, twain, brace, span, yoke, couplet, distich, duo, duet, dyad, duad]
4: a pair of draft animals joined by a yoke; "pulled by a yoke of oxen"
5: support consisting of a wooden frame across the shoulders that enables a person to carry buckets hanging from each end
6: a connection (like a clamp or vise) between two things so they move together [syn: yoke, coupling]
7: stable gear that joins two draft animals at the neck so they can work together as a team v
1: become joined or linked together
2: link with or as with a yoke; "yoke the oxen together" [syn: yoke, link]
3: put a yoke on or join with a yoke; "Yoke the draft horses together" [ant: unyoke]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural yokes) Etymology: Middle English yok, from Old English geoc; akin to Old High German joh yoke, Latin jugum, Greek zygon, Sanskrit yuga, Latin jungere to join Date: before 12th century 1. a. a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals (as oxen) are joined at the heads or necks for working together b. an arched device formerly laid on the neck of a defeated person c. a frame fitted to a person's shoulders to carry a load in two equal portions d. a bar by which the end of the tongue of a wagon or carriage is suspended from the collars of the harness e. (1) a crosspiece on the head of a boat's rudder (2) an airplane control operating the elevators and ailerons f. a frame from which a bell is hung g. a clamp or similar piece that embraces two parts to hold or unite them in position 2. plural usually yoke two animals yoked or worked together 3. a. (1) an oppressive agency (2) servitude, bondage b. tie, link; especially marriage 4. a fitted or shaped piece at the top of a skirt or at the shoulder of various garments II. verb (yoked; yoking) Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. a. (1) to put a yoke on (2) to join in or with a yoke b. to attach a draft animal to; also to attach (a draft animal) to something 2. to join as if by a yoke 3. to put to work intransitive verb to become joined or linked

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a wooden crosspiece fastened over the necks of two oxen etc. and attached to the plough or wagon to be drawn. 2 (pl. same or yokes) a pair (of oxen etc.). 3 an object like a yoke in form or function, e.g. a wooden shoulder-piece for carrying a pair of pails, the top section of a dress or skirt etc. from which the rest hangs. 4 sway, dominion, or servitude, esp. when oppressive. 5 a bond or union, esp. that of marriage. 6 Rom.Hist. an uplifted yoke, or an arch of three spears symbolizing it, under which a defeated army was made to march. 7 archaic the amount of land that one yoke of oxen could plough in a day. 8 a crossbar on which a bell swings. 9 the crossbar of a rudder to whose ends ropes are fastened. 10 a bar of soft iron between the poles of an electromagnet. --v. 1 tr. put a yoke on. 2 tr. couple or unite (a pair). 3 tr. (foll. by to) link (one thing) to (another). 4 intr. match or work together. Etymology: OE geoc f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yoke Yoke (y[=o]k), n. [OE. yok, [yogh]oc, AS. geoc; akin to D. juk, OHG. joh, G. joch, Icel. & Sw. ok, Dan. aag, Goth. juk, Lith. jungas, Russ. igo, L. jugum, Gr. zy`gon, Skr. yuga, and to L. jungere to join, Gr. ?, Skr. yui. [root]109, 280. Cf. Join, Jougs, Joust, Jugular, Subjugate, Syzygy, Yuga, Zeugma.] 1. A bar or frame of wood by which two oxen are joined at the heads or necks for working together. A yearling bullock to thy name shall smoke, Untamed, unconscious of the galling yoke. --Pope. Note: The modern yoke for oxen is usually a piece of timber hollowed, or made curving, near each end, and laid on the necks of the oxen, being secured in place by two bows, one inclosing each neck, and fastened through the timber. In some countries the yoke consists of a flat piece of wood fastened to the foreheads of the oxen by thongs about the horns. 2. A frame or piece resembling a yoke, as in use or shape. Specifically: (a) A frame of wood fitted to a person's shoulders for carrying pails, etc., suspended on each side; as, a milkmaid's yoke. (b) A frame worn on the neck of an animal, as a cow, a pig, a goose, to prevent passage through a fence. (c) A frame or convex piece by which a bell is hung for ringing it. See Illust. of Bell. (d) A crosspiece upon the head of a boat's rudder. To its ends lines are attached which lead forward so that the boat can be steered from amidships. (e) (Mach.) A bent crosspiece connecting two other parts. (f) (Arch.) A tie securing two timbers together, not used for part of a regular truss, but serving a temporary purpose, as to provide against unusual strain. (g) (Dressmaking) A band shaped to fit the shoulders or the hips, and joined to the upper full edge of the waist or the skirt. 3. Fig.: That which connects or binds; a chain; a link; a bond connection. Boweth your neck under that blissful yoke . . . Which that men clepeth spousal or wedlock. --Chaucer. This yoke of marriage from us both remove. --Dryden. 4. A mark of servitude; hence, servitude; slavery; bondage; service. Our country sinks beneath the yoke. --Shak. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. --Matt. xi. 30. 5. Two animals yoked together; a couple; a pair that work together. I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. --Luke xiv. 19. 6. The quantity of land plowed in a day by a yoke of oxen. [Obs.] --Gardner. 7. A portion of the working day; as, to work two yokes, that is, to work both portions of the day, or morning and afternoon. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell. Neck yoke, Pig yoke. See under Neck, and Pig. Yoke elm (Bot.), the European hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), a small tree with tough white wood, often used for making yokes for cattle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yoke Yoke, v. i. To be joined or associated; to be intimately connected; to consort closely; to mate. We 'll yoke together, like a double shadow. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yoke Yoke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Yoked; p. pr. & vb. n. Yoking.] 1. To put a yoke on; to join in or with a yoke; as, to yoke oxen, or pair of oxen. 2. To couple; to join with another. ``Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers.'' --2 Cor. vi. 14. Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb. --Shak. 3. To enslave; to bring into bondage; to restrain; to confine. Then were they yoked with garrisons. --Milton. The words and promises that yoke The conqueror are quickly broke. --Hudibras.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Yoke Yoke, n. (Chiefly Mach.) A clamp or similar piece that embraces two other parts to hold or unite them in their respective or relative positions, as a strap connecting a slide valve to the valve stem, or the soft iron block or bar permanently connecting the pole pieces of an electromagnet, as in a dynamo.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(yokes, yoking, yoked) 1. If you say that people are under the yoke of a bad thing or person, you mean they are forced to live in a difficult or unhappy state because of that thing or person. (LITERARY) People are still suffering under the yoke of slavery... N-SING: usu N of n, adj N 2. A yoke is a long piece of wood which is tied across the necks of two animals such as oxen, in order to make them walk close together when they are pulling a plough. N-COUNT 3. If two or more people or things are yoked together, they are forced to be closely linked with each other. The introduction attempts to yoke the pieces together... The Auto Pact yoked Ontario into the United States economy... Farmers and politicians are yoked by money and votes. VERB: V pl-n together, V n to/into n, be V-ed

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc. (Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3). It was a curved piece of wood called _'ol_.

(2.) In Jer. 27:2; 28:10, 12 the word in the Authorized Version rendered "yoke" is _motah_, which properly means a "staff," or as in the Revised Version, "bar."

These words in the Hebrew are both used figuratively of severe bondage, or affliction, or subjection (Lev. 26:13; 1 Kings 12:4; Isa. 47:6; Lam. 1:14; 3:27). In the New Testament the word "yoke" is also used to denote servitude (Matt. 11:29, 30; Acts 15:10; Gal. 5:1).

(3.) In 1 Sam. 11:7, 1 Kings 19:21, Job 1:3 the word thus translated is _tzemed_, which signifies a pair, two oxen yoked or coupled together, and hence in 1 Sam. 14:14 it represents as much land as a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, like the Latin _jugum_. In Isa. 5:10 this word in the plural is translated "acres."

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

yok:

(1) The usual word is `ol (Ge 27:40, etc.), less commonly the (apparently later) form moTah (Isa 58:6, etc.; in Nab 1:13 moT), which the Revised Version (British and American) in Jer 27; 28 translates "bar" (a most needless and obscuring change). The Greek in Apocrypha (Sirach 28:19, etc.) and in the New Testament (Mt 11:29 f, etc.) is invariably zugos. Egyptian monuments show a yoke that consisted of a straight bar fastened to the foreheads of the cattle at the root of the horns, and such yokes were no doubt used in Palestine also; but the more usual form was one that rested on the neck (Ge 27:40, etc.). It was provided with straight "bars" (moToth in Le 26:13; Eze 34:27) projecting downward, against which the shoulders of the oxen pressed, and it was held in position by thongs or "bonds" (moceroth in Jer 2:20; 5:5; 27:2; 30:8; 'aghuddoth in Isa 58:6, "bands"), fastened under the animals' throats. Such yokes could of course be of any weight (1Ki 12:4 ), depending on the nature of the work to be done, but the use of "iron yokes" (De 28:48; Jer 28:13 f) must have been very rare, if, indeed, the phrase is anything more than a figure of speech.

What is meant by "the yoke on their jaws" in Ho 11:4 is quite obscure. Possibly a horse's bit is meant; possibly the phrase is a condensed form for "the yoke that prevents their feeding"; possibly the text is corrupt.

See JAW.

The figurative use of "yoke" in the sense of "servitude" is intensely obvious (compare especially Jer 27, 28). Attention needs to be called only to La 3:27, where "disciplining sorrow" is meant, and to Jer 5:5, where the phrase is a figure for "the law of God." This last use became popular with the Jews at a later period and it is found, e.g. in Apocrypha Baruch 41:3; Psalter of Solomon 7:9; 17:32; Ab. iii.7,. and in this sense the phrase is employed. by Christ in Mt 11:29 f. "My yoke" here means "the service of God as I teach it" (the common interpretation, "the sorrows that I bear," is utterly irrelevant) and the emphasis is on "my." The contrast is not between "yoke" and "no yoke," but between "my teaching" (light yoke) and "the current scribal teaching'; (heavy yoke).

(2) "Yoke" in the sense of "a pair of oxen" is tsemedh (1Sa 11:7, etc.), or zeugos (Lu 14:19).

See also UNEQUAL; YOKE-FELLOW.

Burton Scott Easton

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Bond, chain, link, tie, ligature. 2. Bondage, servitude, service, dependence, subjection, thraldom, vassalage. II. v. a. Join, couple, link, interlink, conjoin, connect, associate.

Foolish Dictionary

The inheritance of the hen-pecked and the burden of the married.

Moby Thesaurus

Oregon boat, accouple, accumulate, agglutinate, amass, articulate, assemble, associate, back band, backstrap, band, bearing rein, bed, bed down, bellyband, bilbo, bit, blinders, blinds, bond, bonds, both, brace, bracket, break, breeching, bridge, bridge over, bridle, brush, camisole, caparison, cavesson, cement, chain, chains, checkrein, cheekpiece, chinband, cinch, clap together, collar, collect, combine, comprise, concatenate, conglobulate, conjoin, conjugate, connect, copulate, couple, couple up, couplet, cover, crownband, crupper, cuffs, curb, curry, currycomb, distich, double harness, double-harness, double-team, doublet, drench, duad, duet, duo, dyad, embrace, encompass, enslavement, feed, fetter, fodder, gag, gag swivel, gather, gentle, girth, glue, groom, gyves, hackamore, halter, hames, hametugs, hamper, handcuffs, handle, harness, headgear, headstall, helotry, hip straps, hitch, hitch up, hobbles, hook up, hopples, include, irons, jaquima, jerk line, join, knot, lay together, leading strings, league, leash, ligament, ligature, lines, link, litter, lump together, manacle, manage, marry, marshal, martingale, mass, match, mate, mates, merge, milk, mobilize, muzzle, nexus, noseband, pair, pair off, peonage, piece together, pillory, pole strap, put together, reins, restraint, restraints, ribbons, roll into one, rub down, saddle, serfdom, servility, servitude, set of two, shackle, shaft tug, side check, slavery, snaffle, solder, span, splice, stick together, stocks, straightjacket, strait-waistcoat, straitjacket, stranglehold, surcingle, tack, tackle, take in, tame, tape, team, team up, tend, tether, the two, thralldom, tie, train, trammel, trammels, trappings, tug, twain, two, twosome, unify, unite, vinculum, water, wed, weld, winker braces