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yerk. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
yerk, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
yerk in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
yerk you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English ȝerken (“to move suddenly, excite, bind tightly, attack”), from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready”), compare ġearc (“active, quick”), from Proto-Germanic *garwakōną (“to prepare”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to grab, take”). Cognate with jerk; see yare for more cognates.
Pronunciation
Verb
yerk (third-person singular simple present yerks, present participle yerking, simple past and past participle yerked)
- (transitive, archaic) To stab (someone or something).
- Synonyms: foin, speet; see also Thesaurus:stab
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 6:To doe no contriu'd murher; I lacke iniquity / Sometimes to do me ſeruice: nine or ten times, / I had thought to haue ierk'd him here, / Vnder the ribbes.
- To throw or thrust with a sudden, smart movement; to kick or strike suddenly; to jerk.
1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Their wounded steeds […] / Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters.
1627, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Moone-calfe”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. , London: A M for VVilliam Lee, , published 1631, →OCLC, page 242:Vp on a ſuddaine they together ſtart, / And driue at him as faſt as they could ding, / They flirt, they yerke, they backvvard fluce, and fling / As though the Deuill in their heeles had bin, / That to eſcape the danger he vvas in.
- (obsolete, Scotland) To strike or lash with a whip or stick.
- Synonyms: slash, whip
- (obsolete, Scotland) To rouse or excite.
- Synonyms: exhilarate, quicken; see also Thesaurus:thrill
- To bind or tie with a jerk.
Noun
yerk (plural yerks)
- (archaic) A sudden or quick thrust or motion; a jerk.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Veracity. His Design in Publishing this Work. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume II, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 345:Imagine twenty thouſand of them breaking into the midſt of an European Army, confounding the Ranks, overturning the Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from their hinder Hoofs.
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