Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
A native or inhabitant of the northern United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Southern-US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
A native or inhabitant of the northern United States.
A native or inhabitant of New England.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-US, Southern-US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
An anglo, someone without French ancestry; a native or inhabitant of the rest of the United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: French, Louisiana
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
A native or inhabitant of the United States in general.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Commonwealth, derogatory, sometimes
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: American, US American, Americunt, Ameritard, Seppo, septic, United Statesian, United Statian, Usanian, USian, US-ian, Usonan, Usonian, U.S. American, US-American, Yank, Yankee
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any individual associated with the Union; that is, the United States federal government, during the American Civil War.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Southern-US, derogatory, historical, often
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: Confederate, southron, reb
noun
A player for the New York Yankees.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: ball-games, baseball, games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A large triangular headsail used in light or moderate winds and set on the fore topmast stay. Unlike a genoa it does not fill the whole fore triangle, but is set in combination with the working staysail.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: nautical, transport
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: gambling, games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A headsail resembling a genoa or a jib but with a high-cut clew, normally used together with a staysail. A sailing boat is typically equipped with three yankee sails of different sizes, number one being the largest.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: nautical, transport
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Yankee from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of
Qualifier: international standards
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Obsolete form of Yankee (“either a US Northerner or any US American”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
to cheat, trick or swindle somebody; to misrepresent something
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US, dated, offensive, slang, sometimes
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
used by Southerners for an inhabitant of a northern state in the United States (especially a Union soldier)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
an American (especially to non-Americans)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Yank, Yankee-Doodle
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: American
noun
an American who lives in New England
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: New Englander
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: American
noun
an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Yank, Northerner
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: American
Narrower terms: Federal, Federal soldier, Union soldier
History
First attested in 1765, when it was described as "a name of derision ... given by the Southern people on the Continent to those of New England". Various suggestions have been made as to its origin: that it derives from a Cherokee word meaning "slave" or "coward" and was applied to the New Englanders by the Virginians because the former refused to aid the latter in a war against the Cherokees; that it derives from Yengees, an Indian corruption of English; and that it derives from Janke, a pet form of the common Dutch forename Jan. The OED regards the last of these as "perhaps the most plausible".
Across languages
82 source translations are retained for this English entry.
