yoke
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /jəʊk/
enpr: yōk
ipa: /joʊk/
rhymes: -əʊk
homophone: yolk
Forms: form: yokes
form: yoking
form: yoked
form: yoked
Etymology: From Middle English yoken, yoke, ȝoken (“to put a harness or yoke on a draught animal or pair of such animals, to yoke; to attach (an animal to a cart, plough, etc.) with a yoke; to lock (arms) in wrestling; to bind (oneself or someone) to something”) [and other forms], from Old English ġeocian, iucian, from Old English ġeoc (“yoke”) (see etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).
Senses: examples: text: Bubulcus, […] An oxeheard, or coweheard: a driuer of oxen and kine: he that yoketh oxen, and […] goeth to plowe with them.
ref: 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, and Henrie Denham, →OCLC, pages 513–514:
text: But when Astrea’s Ballance, hung on high, / Betwixt the Nights and Days divides the Sky, / Then Yoke your Oxen, ſow your Winter Grain; / ’Till cold December comes with driving Rain.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 58, lines 298–301:
text: Theſe on their Horſes vault, thoſe yoke the Car; / The reſt with Swords on high, run headlong to the War.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 591, lines 433–434:
text: However, it is probable that even the fierceſt could be rendered domeſtic, if man thought the conqueſt worth the trouble. Lions have been yoked to the chariots of conquerors, and tigers have been taught to tend thoſe herds which they are known at preſent to deſtroy; […]
ref: 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Animals of the Cat Kind”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume III, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 184:
text: Nodhas, son of Gotama, has fabricated this new prayer to thee, O India, who art eternal, and yokest thy coursers, […]
ref: 1860, J[ohn] Muir, “The Languages of Northern India: Their History and Relations”, in Original 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, […]), page 208:
text: Twice a year regularly she yoked 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.
ref: 1882, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter II, in In Maremma […], volume I, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 33:
text: 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 donkey yoked together.
ref: 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XI, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 105:
text: 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 only yoked one buffalo to the plough up till now. It is now time to yoke up the milch-buffaloes.
ref: 1918, Rudyard Kipling, “The Fumes of the Heart”, in The Eyes of Asia, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, pages 37–38:
text: 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.
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VI, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished as Animal Farm (eBook no. 0100011h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, March 2008:
glosses: 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.
glosses: To put (one's arm or arms) around someone's neck, waist, etc.; also, to surround (someone's neck, waist, etc.) with one's arms.
glosses: To put (something) around someone's neck like a yoke; also, to surround (someone's neck) with something.
glosses: To place a collar on the neck of (a conquered person or prisoner) to restrain movement.
topics: agriculture
business
lifestyle
glosses: To place a frame on the neck of (an animal such as a cow, pig, or goose) to prevent passage through a fence or other barrier.
examples: text: Oh then, my beſt blood turne / To an infected Gelly, and my Name / Be yoak'd with his, that did betray the Beſt: […]
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 281, column 1:
text: The Author of Juchaſin yoketh him in the ſame time and the ſame ſociety with Rabban Jochanan ben Zacchai, who flouriſhed in the times of Chriſts being upon earth, and till after the deſtruction of Ieruſalem: […]
ref: 1647, John Lightfoote [i.e., John Lightfoot], “Sect. XIV. St. Iohn Chap. III.”, in The 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 […], published 1650, →OCLC, page 12:
text: There's the kingdom o' Fife, frae Borrowstownness to the east nook, it's just like a great combined city—Sae mony royal boroughs yoked on end to end, like ropes of ingans, […]
ref: 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 12:
text: What trespass canst find, son of Kronos, in me, / That thou yokest me ever to pain? / Woe! Ah, woe!
ref: 1881, Aeschylus, “Prometheus Bound”, in Anna Swanwick, transl., The Dramas of Æschylus, 3rd edition, London: George Bell & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 372, lines 593–595:
text: 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 frequently yoked their arms into a bilateral reach pattern than the independent sitters.
ref: 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), page 61:
glosses: To bring (two or more people or things) into a close relationship (often one that is undesired); to connect, to link, to unite.
examples: text: For thys frayltie, that yoketh all mankynde, / Thou shalt awake, and rue this mysereye: / Rue on Syon.
ref: a. 1543, Thomas Wyatt, “Psalm CII. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.”, in John Holland, editor, The Psalmists of Britain. […], volume I, London: R. Groombridge, […]; Sheffield, Yorkshire: Ridge and Jackson, published 1843, →OCLC, page 83:
text: 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, it yoketh baſe minded men, whoſe care is onely ſet vpon the deſire of earthly things, […]
ref: 1586, Peter de la Primaudaye [i.e., Pierre de La Primaudaye], “Of Vice”, in T[homas] B[owes], transl., The French Academie, wherin is Discoursed the Institution of Maners, […], London: […] Edmund Bollifant for G. Bishop and Ralph Newbery, →OCLC, pages 70–71:
text: Theſe are his ſubſtance, ſinewes, armes, and ſtrength, / With which he yoaketh your rebellious Neckes, / Razeth your Cities, and ſubuerts your Townes, / And in a moment makes them deſolate.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 103, column 1:
text: [T]he practiſe of the Normans, who as a monument of the Conqueſt, would have yoaked the Engliſh vnder their tongue, as they did vnder their command, by compelling them to teach their children in ſchooles nothing but French, […]
ref: 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “The Languages”, in Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 22:
text: For Words and Promises that yoke / The Conqu’ror, are quickly broke, / Like Samson’s Cuffs, though by his own / Direction and advice put on.
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 56:
text: The Druids, thoſe were thir Prieſts, […] with hands lift up to Heav'n uttering direfull praiers, aſtoniſh'd the Romans; […] Then were they [the druids] yoak'd with Garriſons, and the places conſecrate to thir bloodie ſuperſtitions deſtroi'd.
ref: 1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 62:
text: 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 me yok't / Her Bond-ſlave; […]
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 30–31, lines 408–412:
text: If all men indiſcriminately ſhare, / His foſt'ring pow'r and tutelary care, / As well be yok'd by deſpotiſm's hand, / As dwell at large in Britain's charter'd land.
ref: 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 14:
text: 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 and yoked workers to what they described as colonialism all over again.
ref: 2024, Hemangini Gupta, Experimental Times: Startup Capitalism and Feminist Futures in India, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 152:
glosses: To bring into or keep (someone) in bondage or a state of submission; to enslave or subject to wage slavery; to confine, to restrain; to oppress, to subjugate.
examples: text: God ſir be a man, / Thinke euery bearded fellow, that's but yoak'd, / May draw with you, […]
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 63:
text: Be ye not vnequally yoked with vnbeleeuers: for what fellowſhip hath righteouſneſſe with vnrighteouſneſſe? and what communion hath light with darkneſſe?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 6:14, column 1:
text: In short, I have the honour to be yoked to a young lady, who is, in plain English, for her standing, a very eminent scold.
ref: 1712 August 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “TUESDAY, August 12, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 455; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 245:
text: 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.
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part VI”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 160:
qualifier: passive voice
glosses: To be joined to (another person) in wedlock (often with the implication that it is a burdensome state); to be or become married to (someone).
examples: text: [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, / Nor yoake with him for Tribune.
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 14, column 2:
text: And should your greatness, and the care / That yokes with empire, yield you time / To make demand of modern rhyme / If aught of ancient worth be there; […]
ref: 1851 March, Alfred Tennyson, “To the Queen”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 1:
glosses: To be or become connected, linked, or united in a relationship; to have dealings with.
examples: text: God forbid, that I ſhould wiſh them ſeuer'd, / Whom God hath ioyn'd together: / I, and 'twere pittie, to ſunder them, / That yoake ſo well together.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 163, column 1:
text: Alt[ea]. Shee would faine marry. / 1. Tis a proper calling, / And well beſeemes her yeares, who would ſhe yoke with?
ref: 1624 (first performance), John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. A Comoedy. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Leonard Lichfield […], published 1640, →OCLC, Act I, scene [iii], page 8:
glosses: To be or become joined in wedlock; to be married, to wed.
Derived terms: underyoke
yoker
yoke together