English Explanatory Dictionary

Yankee

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
  2. A native or inhabitant of the northern United States.
  3. A native or inhabitant of New England.
  4. An anglo, someone without French ancestry; a native or inhabitant of the rest of the United States.
  5. A native or inhabitant of the United States in general.
  6. Any individual associated with the Union; that is, the United States federal government, during the American Civil War.
  7. A player for the New York Yankees.
  8. 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.
  9. A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator.
verb
  1. to cheat, trick or swindle somebody; to misrepresent something
noun
  1. 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.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of Yankee from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
  3. Obsolete form of Yankee (“either a US Northerner or any US American”).

Pronunciation

/ˈjæŋ.ki/ En-au-Yankee.ogg /ˈjeɪ̯ŋ.ki/ /ˈjɛ̃ŋ.ki/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-yankee.wav

Word forms

Yankee Yankees Yanky Yengee Yankeeing Yankeed

Etymology

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".

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

Confederate southron reb

Related words

Yank

Derived words

damn Yankee seppo septic tank Yank Yankee cheese Yankee dime Yankeedom Yankee-Doodle Yankee go home Yankee ingenuity Yankeeism Yankees Creek Yankee screwdriver Yankee swap yanqui

Translations

Belarusian: я́нкі Bulgarian: я́нки Czech: Yankee Dutch: Yankee Finnish: jenkki German: Ami Hungarian: jenki Japanese: ヤンキー Korean: 양키 Persian: یانکی Polish: Jankes Polish: Jankeska Russian: я́нки Slovak: Yankee Spanish: gabacho Ukrainian: я́нкі
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