Senses 3.1 (“area of arable land”) and 3.2 (“amount of work done with draught animals”) probably referred to the area of land that could generally be ploughed by yoked draught animals within a given time.[2]
1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar),Thomas Tusser, “Februarij”, inA Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London:[…]Richard Tottel,→OCLC; republished London:[…] Robert Triphook,[…], and William Sancho,[…],1810,→OCLC, stanza 64,page13:
Thy seruant in walking thy pastures aboute: / foryokes, forkes and rakes, let him loke to finde oute. / And after atleyser let this be hishier: / to trimme them and make them at home by the fier.
The Oxe hath therefore ſtretcht hisyoake in vaine, / The Ploughman loſt his ſweat, and the greene corne / Hath rotted, ere his youth attainde a bearde:[…]
1697,Virgil, “The Third Book of theGeorgics”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC,page103, lines226–227:
Firſt let 'em [horses] run at large; and never know / The tamingYoak, or draw the crooked Plough.
A yearling bullock to thy name ſhall ſmoke, / Untam'd, unconſcious of the gallingyoke, / With ample forehead, and yet tender horns / Whoſe budding honours ductile gold adorns.
Joyous, th' impatient huſbandman perceives / Relenting Nature, and his luſty ſteers / Drives from their ſtalls, to where the well-us'd plough / Lies in the furrow, looſened from the froſt. / There, unrefuſing, to the harneſs'dyoke / They lend their ſhoulder, and begin their toil, / Chear'd by the ſimple ſong and ſoaring lark.
1821, John Clare, “[Poems.] The Disappointment.”, inThe Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, volume I, London:[…][T. Miller] forTaylor andHessey,[…]; and E[dward] Drury,[…],→OCLC, stanza 5,page155:
And whenever to rest she her buckets set down, / She jingled heryokes to and fro, / And heryokes she might jingle till morn—a rude clown, / Ere he it seem'd offered to go.
The speaker, who had been carrying a pair of pails on ayoke, deposited them upon the edge of the pavement in front of the inn, and straightened his back to an excruciating perpendicular.
The country children thereabouts wore their dresses to their shoe-tops, but this city child was dressed in what was then called the "Kate Greenaway" manner, and her red cashmere frock, gathered full from theyoke, came almost to the floor.
The dresses her mother made looked ugly, even obscene, for her breasts were well grown, and theyokes emphasized them, showing flattened bulges under the tight band of material; and the straight falling line of the skit was spoiled by her full hips.
A light whale-boat, handsomely painted, and fitted out with stern seats,yoke, tiller-ropes, &c. hung on the starboard quarter, and was used as the gig.[…] The bow-man had charge of the boat-hook and painter, and the coxswain of the rudder,yoke, and stern-sheets.
(chiefly US) A frame orconvex crosspiece from which abell is hung.
Strongyoke for a hog, with a twicher and rings, / with tar in a tarpot, for dangerous things:[…]
According to footnote 1, in the 1577 edition the lines were as follows: “Hogyokes, and a twicher, and ringes for a hog, / with tar in a pot, for the byeting of dog.”
Each hog had a wooden triangularyoke about its neck, by which it was hindered from penetrating through the holes in the encloſures; and for this reaſon, the encloſures are made very ſlender, and eaſy to put up, and do not require much wood.
[H]is will and pleaſure was they ſhould paſſe all under theyoke or gallows: the maner wherof is this. They took three ſpears or javelins, and ſet two of them pitched in the ground endlong, and their overthwart faſtned unto the other. Under this kind of gallows the Dictator compelled the Æquians to go.
1769,[Oliver] Goldsmith, “From the Creation of the Tribunes to the Appointment of the Decemviri”, inThe Roman History, from the Foundation of the City of Rome, to the Destruction of the Western Empire.[…], volume I, London:[…] S. Baker and G. Leigh,[…];T[homas] Davies,[…]; and L. Davis,[…],→OCLC,page127:
[T]he Æqui being attacked on both ſides and unable to reſiſt or fly, begged a ceſſation of arms. They offered the dictator his own terms; he gave them their lives, but obliged them, in token of ſervitude, to paſs under theyoke, which was two ſpears ſet upright, and another acroſs, in the form of a door, beneath which the vanquiſhed were to march.
Senses relating to a pair of harnessed draught animals.
(chiefly historical) A pair of draught animals, especially oxen,yokedtogether to pull something.
[T]hese whales, influenced by some views to safety, now swim the seas in immense caravans, so that to a large degree the scattered solitaries,yokes, and pods, and schools of other days are now aggregated into vast but widely separated, unfrequent armies.
[…] I missed the train home and I couldn't get any kind of ayoke to give me a lift for, as luck would have it, there was a mass meeting that same day over in Castletownroche and all the cars in the country were there.
1790,Edward Hasted, “The Hundred of Calehill”, inThe History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent.[…], volume III, Canterbury, Kent:[…][F]or the author, by Simmons and Kirkby,→OCLC,page207, column 2:
Of this ſuling Ralph de Curbeſpine holds oneyoke and an half, which is and was worth ſeparately ten ſhillings. Adelold had half a ſuling and half ayoke, and in the time of K. Edward the Confeſſor it was worth 40 ſhillings, and afterwards 20 ſhillings, now 40 ſhillings.
[I]n companions / That do conuerſe and waſte the time together, / Whoſe ſoules do beare an equallyoke of loue, / There muſt be needs a like proportion / Of lineaments, of manners, and of ſpirit[…]
1697,Virgil, “The Fourth Book of theÆneis”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC,page297, lines21–23 and 25:
Such were his Looks, ſo gracefully he ſpoke, / That were I not reſolv'd againſt theYoke / Of hapleſs Marriage;[…] / To this one Error I might yield again:[…]
First of all, gentlemen, I have been observing you both for the last two days, and if you will not think me impertinent I will say that I like you, and think that we shall come up well to theyoke together.
Their mothers bed-chamber ſhould not be ſafe, / For theſe baſe bond-men to theyoake of Rome.
1610,William Camden, “Romans in Britaine”, inPhilémon Holland, transl.,Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland,[…], London:[…][Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton,→OCLC,page48:
Whereupon our enemies, kindled with rage, and pricked forward with an ignominious indignity, leſt they ſhould be brought under theyoke of a womans government, with a strong power of choiſe youth, by force of armes invaded her kingdome, which was foreſeen by us:[…]
1648,Joseph Beaumont, “Canto XI. The Traytor. Stanza 28.”, inPsyche: Or Loves Mysterie,[…], London:[…] John Dawson for George Boddington,[…],→OCLC,page186, column 2:
O ſhameleſſe boldneſſe! which can in defence / Ofmeek Religion, put on Barbarouſnes, / And make theBond of Sweetnes a pretence / To break all otheryoakes;[…]
For Kings to com, never forgetting thir former Ejection, will be ſure to fortify and arm themſelves ſufficiently for the future againſt all ſuch Attempts hereafter from the People: who ſhall be then ſo narrowly watch'd and kept ſo low, that[…] they never ſhall be able to regain what they now have purchas'd and may enjoy, or to free themſelves from anyYoke impos'd upon them:[…]
[I]t frequently happens that a very poor judge, merely by force of a greater complexional ſenſibility, is more affected by a very poor piece, than the beſt judge by the moſt perfect;[…] the judgment is for the greater part employed in throwing ſtumbling blocks in the way of the imagination, in diſſipating the ſcenes of its enchantment, and in tying us down to the diſagreeableyoke of our reaſon:[…]
If any state forms a great regular army, the bordering states must imitate the example, or must submit to a foreignyoke.
2013, Richard Stallman,Free Software Is Even More Important Now[2]:
If the users don't control the program, the program controls the users. With proprietary software, there is always some entity, the “owner” of the program, that controls the program—and through it, exercises power over its users. A nonfree program is ayoke, an instrument of unjust power.
bar or frame by which two oxen or other draught animals are joined at their necks enabling them to pull a cart, plough, etc.; device attached to a single draught animal for the same purpose
raised yoke, or a symbolic yoke formed from two spears installed upright in the ground with another spear connecting their tops, under which a defeated army was made to march as a sign of subjugation
1585, Adrianus Iunius [i.e.,Hadrianus Junius], “Bubulcus”, in Iohn Higins [i.e.,John Higgins], transl.,The Nomenclator, or Remembrancer of Adrianus Iunius Physician,[…], Conteining Proper Names and Apt Termes for All Thinges vnder Their Conuenient Titles,[…], London:[…] Ralph Newberie, andHenrie Denham,→OCLC,pages513–514:
Bubulcus,[…] An oxeheard, or coweheard: a driuer of oxen and kine: he thatyoketh oxen, and[…] goeth to plowe with them.
1697,Virgil, “The First Book of theGeorgics”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC,page58, lines298–301:
But whenAstrea’s Ballance, hung on high, / Betwixt the Nights and Days divides the Sky, / ThenYoke your Oxen, ſow your Winter Grain; / ’Till coldDecember comes with driving Rain.
1697,Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of theÆneis”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC,page591, lines433–434:
Theſe on their Horſes vault, thoſeyoke the Car; / The reſt with Swords on high, run headlong to the War.
1791,Oliver Goldsmith, “Animals of the Cat Kind”, inAn History of the Earth, and Animated Nature.[…], new edition, volume III, London:[…] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr.[John] Nourse,[…],→OCLC,page184:
However, it is probable that even the fierceſt could be rendered domeſtic, if man thought the conqueſt worth the trouble. Lions have beenyoked to the chariots of conquerors, and tigers have been taught to tend thoſe herds which they are known at preſent to deſtroy;[…]
1860,J[ohn] Muir, “The Languages of Northern India: Their History and Relations”, inOriginal Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, Their Religion and Institutions.[…], 2nd part (The Trans-Himalayan Origin of the Hindus, and Their Affinity with the Western Branches of the Arian Race), London, Edinburgh:Williams and Norgate,[…],→OCLC, section X (Various Stages of Sanskrit Literature,[…]),page208:
Nodhas, son of Gotama, has fabricated this new prayer to thee, O India, who art eternal, andyokest thy coursers,[…]
Twice a year regularly sheyoked her mule to her cart and drove into Grosseto, making a two days' journey on the road each way, on purpose to sell the homespun linen she had woven from the thread she had spun in the six months' time.
As we tramped gaily out at the gate of the town, we overtook a peasant's cart, partly laden with odds and ends of cabbages and similar vegetable rubbish, and drawn by a small cow and a smaller donkeyyoked together.
The men go to the war daily. It is the women who do all the work at home, having been well taught in their childhood. We have onlyyoked one buffalo to the plough up till now. It is now time toyoke up the milch-buffaloes.
Transporting the stone when it was once broken was comparatively simple.[…] [E]ven Muriel and Benjamin [a goat and a donkey]yoked themselves into an old governess-cart and did their share.
Toput (one'sarm or arms) around someone'sneck,waist, etc.; also, tosurround (someone's neck, waist, etc.) with one's arms.
To put (something) around someone's neck like a yoke; also, to surround (someone's neck) with something.
Oh then, my beſt blood turne / To an infected Gelly, and my Name / Beyoak'd with his, that did betray the Beſt:[…]
1647, John Lightfoote [i.e.,John Lightfoot], “Sect. XIV.St. Iohn Chap. III.”, inThe Harmony of the Four Evangelists, among Themselves, and vvith the Old Testament.[…], 3rd part (From the First Passeover after Our Saviours Baptisme to the Second), London:[…] R[ichard] C[otes] for Andrew Crook[…], published1650,→OCLC,page12:
The Author ofJuchaſinyoketh him in the ſame time and the ſame ſociety withRabban Jochanan ben Zacchai, who flouriſhed in the times ofChriſts being upon earth, and till after the deſtruction ofIeruſalem:[…]
There's the kingdom o' Fife, frae Borrowstownness to the east nook, it's just like a great combined city—Sae mony royal boroughsyoked on end to end, like ropes of ingans,[…]
What trespass canst find, son ofKronos, in me, / That thouyokest me ever to pain? / Woe! Ah, woe!
2004, Patricia Bate,Esther Thelen, “Development of Turning and Reaching”, in Mark L. Latash, Mindy F. Levin, editors,Progress in Motor Control: Volume Three: Effects of Age, Disorder, and Rehabilitation, Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics,→ISBN, part I (Sensorimotor Integration),page61:
The level of support and relation to gravity also influence whether infants used one or two hands to reach.[…] They [researchers] showed that across all postures, nonsitting infants more frequentlyyoked their arms into a bilateral reach pattern than the independent sitters.
For thys frayltie, thatyoketh all mankynde, / Thou shalt awake, and rue this mysereye: / Rue on Syon.
1586, Peter de la Primaudaye [i.e.,Pierre de La Primaudaye], “Of Vice”, inT[homas] B[owes], transl.,The French Academie, wherin is Discoursed the Institution of Maners,[…], London:[…] Edmund Bollifant for G. Bishop and Ralph Newbery,→OCLC,pages70–71:
It is moſt certaine, that vice putteth on a viſard, and goeth diſguiſed and couered with goodly ſhewes that belong onely to vertue,[…] And being thus clothed, with the helpe of corruptible pleaſures that lightly paſſe away, ityoketh baſe minded men, whoſe care is onely ſet vpon the deſire of earthly things,[…]
Theſe are his ſubſtance, ſinewes, armes, and ſtrength, / With which heyoaketh your rebellious Neckes, / Razeth your Cities, and ſubuerts your Townes, / And in a moment makes them deſolate.
1605, M. N. [pseudonym;William Camden], “The Languages”, inRemaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine,[…], London:[…]G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson,→OCLC, [https:// page22]:
[T]he practiſe of the Normans, who as a monument of the Conqueſt, would haveyoaked the Engliſh vnder their tongue, as they did vnder their command, by compelling them to teach their children in ſchooles nothing but French,[…]
TheDruids, thoſe were thir Prieſts,[…] with hands lift up to Heav'n uttering direfull praiers, aſtoniſh'd theRomans;[…] Then were they [the druids]yoak'd with Garriſons, and the places conſecrate to thir bloodie ſuperſtitions deſtroi'd.
I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart, / Who with a grain of manhood well reſolv'd / Might eaſily have ſhook off all her ſnares: / But foul effeminacy held meyok't / Her Bond-ſlave;[…]
If all men indiſcriminately ſhare, / His foſt'ring pow'r and tutelary care, / As well beyok'd by deſpotiſm's hand, / As dwell at large in Britain's charter'd land.
2024, Hemangini Gupta,Experimental Times: Startup Capitalism and Feminist Futures in India, University of California Press,→ISBN, page152:
For many at Captivate, this job was preferable to a specific other. For Radhika and Purnima, it was an alternative to jobs in banking that had rigid hours andyoked workers to what they described as colonialism all over again.
Be ye not vnequallyyoked with vnbeleeuers: for what fellowſhip hath righteouſneſſe with vnrighteouſneſſe? and what communion hath light with darkneſſe?
My bride, / My wife, my life. O we will walk this world, /Yoked in all exercise of noble end, / And so thro' those dark gates across the wild / That no man knows.
[I]f you will paſſe / To where you are bound, you muſt enquire your way, / Which you are out of, with a gentler ſpirit, / Or neuer be ſo Noble as a Conſull, / Noryoake with him for Tribune.
1851 March,Alfred Tennyson, “To the Queen”, inThe Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published1897,→OCLC,page 1:
And should your greatness, and the care / Thatyokes with empire, yield you time / To make demand of modern rhyme / If aught of ancient worth be there;[…]
(chiefly Scotland,obsolete) To be or become joined in wedlock; to be married, towed.
to join (several draught animals) together with a yoke; also, to fasten a yoke (on one or more draught animals) to pull a cart, plough, etc.; or to attach (a cart, plough, etc.) to a draught animal
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, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2021;“yoke1,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
deflection yoke on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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