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. גסס, 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.