from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To pull with a quick, strong movement; jerk: yanked the emergency cord.
- transitive v. Slang To extract or remove abruptly: yanked the starting pitcher early in the game.
- intransitive v. To pull on something suddenly. See Synonyms at jerk1.
- n. A sudden vigorous pull; a jerk.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A sudden, vigorous pull (sometimes defined as mass times jerk, or rate of change of force).
- v. To pull something with a quick, strong action.
- v. to remove from circulation
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A jerk or twitch.
- n. An abbreviation of Yankee.
- transitive v. To twitch; to jerk.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To be in active motion; move or work quickly; bustle.
- To talk fast or constantly; scold; nag.
- 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.
- n. A quick, sharp stroke; a buffet.
- n. A jerk or twitch.
- n. plural Leggings or long gaiters worn in England by agricultural laborers.
- n. A Yankee.
- 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.]
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. pull, or move with a sudden movement
- n. an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War)
- n. an American (especially to non-Americans)
It was one of the harder commands for me to learn because the word yank didn't say anything to me.
I hate the term "yank" - it is no longer appropriate if it ever was.
Stopping the milk as she did was a good call, to coin a yank phrase, as it was a waste of money, because the older kids weren't drinking it.
Yeah, they decided to "yank" the ad, but intentionally left the orders dangling while "processing" paperwork.
I knew an American in the UK, born in the USA, but brought up in the UK - is he a 'yank'.
I wonder what brainstorming went into the choice of the word "yank," which seems to be roundly favored by those who want to pressure ABC to withdraw its docu-drama "Path to 9/11."
He is the captain of the small troop of winter resident birds, and where his "yank", "yank", is heard there are the other birds also.
Active young senior male "yank" coming to Mexico in September, hoping to find a stimulating place for retirment living.
: Active young senior male "yank" coming to Mexico in September, hoping to find a stimulating place for retirment living.
The man reined up his horse with a heavy "yank" which almost flung it on its haunches, and a pair of fierce black eyes were staring into the woman's face with a light of startled recognition shining in their depths.