Word Direct Answers

What does "yoke" mean?

Yoke: A frame or piece resembling a yoke, as in use or shape. Specifically: (a) A frame of wood fitted to a person's shoulders for carrying pails, etc., suspended on each side; as, a milkmaid's yoke. (b) A frame worn on the neck of an animal, as a cow, a pig, a goose, to prevent passage through a fence. (c) A frame or convex piece by which a bell is hung for ringing it. See Illust. of Bell. (d) A crosspiece upon the head of a boat's rudder. To its ends lines are attached which lead forward so that the boat can be steered from amidships. (e) (Mach.) A bent crosspiece connecting two other parts. (f) (Arch.) A tie securing two timbers together, not used for part of a regular truss, but serving a temporary purpose, as to provide against unusual strain. (g) (Dressmaking) A band shaped to fit the shoulders or the hips, and joined to the upper full edge of the waist or the skirt.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Fig.: That which connects or binds; a chain; a link; a bond connection. Boweth your neck under that blissful yoke . . . Which that men clepeth spousal or wedlock. Chaucer. This yoke of marriage from us both remove. Dryden.
  2. 3.A mark of servitude; hence, servitude; slavery; bondage; service. Our country sinks beneath the yoke. Shak. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matt. xi.
  3. 4.5. Two animals yoked together; a couple; a pair that work together. I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. Luke xiv.
  4. 5.6. The quantity of land plowed in a day by a yoke of oxen. [Obs.] Gardner.
  5. 6.A portion of the working day; as, to work two yokes, that is, to work both portions of the day, or morning and afternoon. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. Neck yoke, Pig yoke. See under Neck, and Pig. -- Yoke elm (Bot.), the European hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), a small tree with tough white wood, often used for making yokes for cattle.
  6. 7.To put a yoke on; to join in or with a yoke; as, to yoke oxen, or pair of oxen.
  7. 8.To couple; to join with another. "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers." 2 Cor. vi.
  8. 9.Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb. Shak.
  9. 10.To enslave; to bring into bondage; to restrain; to confine. Then were they yoked with garrisons. Milton. The words and promises that yoke The conqueror are quickly broke. Hudibras.
  10. 11.To be joined or associated; to be intimately connected; to consort closely; to mate. We 'll yoke together, like a double shadow. Shak.

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