Emily Dickinson Lexicon

YEAR-LY, adv.

Annually; once a year; as, blessings yearly bestowed.

YEARN, or YERN, v.i. [Sax. geornian, giernan, gyrnan, earnian, to desire; to yearn; Sw. gerna, willingly; Dan. gierne, G. gern, D. gaarne. The sense is to strain, or stretch forward. We have earnest from the same root.]

1. To be strained; to be pained or distressed; to suffer. Falstaff, he is dead, And we must yearn therefore. Shak.
2. Usually, to long; to feel an earnest desire; that is literally, to have a desire or inclination stretching toward the object or end. 1 Kings iii. Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother. Gen. xliii. Your mother's heart yearns toward you. Addison. Anticlus, unable to control, Spoke loud the language of his yearning soul. Pope.

YEARN, or YERN, v.t.

To pain; to grieve; to vex. She laments for it, that it would Yearn your heart to see it. Shak. It yearns me not if men my garments wear. Shak. [Obs.]

YEARN'FUL, or YERN'FUL, a.

Mournful; distressing. [Obs.]

YEARN'ING, or YERN'ING, n.

Strong emotions of desire, tenderness or pity.

YEARN'ING, or YERN'ING, ppr.

Longing; having longing desire.

YEARN'ING-LY, adv.

With yearning.

YEAST, n. [Sax. gist, yeast, a guest, also a storm; yst, a storm; G. gäscht, yeast, and gast, a guest, gäschen, to foam or froth; D. gist, yeast; gisten, to ferment. This coincides with gas and ghost. The primary sense of the noun is wind, spirit, flatulence or froth, from rushing; Ch. {foreign}, to inflate. Class Gs, No. 18.]

1. Barm; the foam, froth or flower of beer or other liquor in fermentation; used for raising dough for bread or cakes, and making it light and puffy.
2. Spume or foam of water. [Not in use.] Shak.

YEAST-Y, a.

Frothy; foamy; spumy; like yeast.

YELK, n. [Sax. gealew, yellow; G. gelb, yellow. See Gold and Yellow.]

The yellow part of an egg; the vitellus. It is sometimes written and pronounced yolk, but yelk is the proper word. Yolk is a corruption.

YELL, n.

A sharp, loud, hideous outcry. Their hideous yells Rend the dark welkin. Philips.

YELL, v.i. [Sax. giellan, gyllan; D. gillen; Sw. gälla, to ring. It agrees in elements with call.]

To cry out with a hideous noise; to cry or scream as with agony or horror. Savages yell most frightfully when they are rushing to the first onset of battle. Nor the night raven, that still deadly yells. Spenser.

YELL'ED, pp.

Uttered hideous cries; shrieked.

YELL'ING, n.

The act of screaming hideously.

YELL'ING, ppr.

Uttering hideous outcries; shrieking; as, yelling monsters.

YEL'LOW, a. [Sax. gealew, yellow; gealla, gall; G. gelb; D. geel; Dan. guul; Sw. gåål, gul. Hence gold, Dan. guld. The Fr. jaune is the same word, contracted from jaulne, as it is written in the Norman; It. giallo; Russ. jelknu, to become yellow; jeltnie, yellow; L. galbanus. Qu. gilvus. The root is the Celtic gal, geal, bright. See Gold. Class Gl, No. 7.]

Being of a bright color; of the color of gold. Newton.

YEL'LOW, n.

A bright color, reflecting the most light of any, after white. It is one of the simple or primitive colors.

YEL'LOW-BLOS-SOM-ED, a.

Furnished or adorned with yellow flowers. Goldsmith.

YEL'LOW-BOY, n.

A gold coin. [Vulgar.]

YEL'LOW-EARTH, n.

A soft yellow mineral found at Wehraw, in Upper Lusatia, united with clay and argillaceous iron-stone.

YEL'LOW-FE'VER, n.

A malignant febrile disease of warm climates, which is often attended with yellowness of the skin, of some shade between lemon-yellow and the deepest orange-yellow, and often also with what is called black-vomit.

YEL'LOW-GOLDS, n.

A flower. B. Jonson.

YEL'LOW-HAIR'ED, a.

Having yellow hair.

YEL'LOW-HAM-MER, n.

A bird of the genus Emberiza. Its throat and the crown of the head, are yellow. Cyc.

YEL'LOW-ISH, a.

Somewhat yellow; as, amber is of a yellowish color. Woodward.