yoke

Etymology 1

From Middle English yok, yoke, ȝok from Old English ġeoc (“yoke”), from Proto-Germanic *juką (“yoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (“yoke”), from *yewg- (“to join; to tie together, yoke”). Doublet of yuga, jugum, yoga and possibly yogh. 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.

noun

1. Senses relating to a frame around the neck.
   1. A bar or frame by which two oxen or other draught animals are joined at their necks enabling them to pull a cart, plough, etc.; (by extension) a device attached to a single draught animal for the same purpose.
   2. Any of various linking or supporting objects that resembles a yoke (sense 1.1); a crosspiece, a curved bar, etc.
      1. A pole carried on the neck and shoulders of a person, used for carrying a pair of buckets, etc., one at each end of the pole; a carrying pole.
      2. (aviation) Any of various devices with crosspieces used to control an aircraft; specifically, the control column.
         1. (video games) A similar device used as a game controller.
      3. (bodybuilding) Well-developed muscles of the neck and shoulders.
         Nothing says you're a dedicated lifter and true athlete more than a massive yoke—that is, the muscles of the neck, traps, and rear delts. 2010 April, Sean Hyson, Jim Wendler, “Build an NFL Neck”, in Men’s Fitness, New York, N.Y.: American Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 73; reproduced as “The Big Yoke Workout”, in Men’s Journal, accessed 19 November 2021, archived from the original on 2021-11-19
      4. (clothing) The part of an item of clothing which fits around the shoulders or the hips from which the rest of the garment hangs, and which is often distinguished by having a double thickness of material, or decorative flourishes.
         The dresses her mother made looked ugly, even obscene, for her breasts were well grown, and the yokes 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. 1952, Doris Lessing, chapter 1, in Martha Quest, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, published 1993, part 1, page 28
      5. (electrical engineering) Originally, a metal piece connecting the poles of a magnet or electromagnet; later, a part of magnetic circuit (such as in a generator or motor) not surrounded by windings (“wires wound around the cores of electrical transformers”).
      6. (electronics) The electromagnetic coil that deflects the electron beam in a cathode ray tube.
      7. (glassblowing) A Y-shaped stand used to support a blowpipe or punty while reheating in the glory hole.
      8. (nautical) A fitting placed across the head of the rudder with a line attached at each end by which a boat may be steered; in modern use it is primarily found in sailing canoes and kayaks.
      9. (chiefly US) A frame or convex crosspiece from which a bell is hung.
   3. (historical)
      1. A collar placed on the neck of a conquered person or prisoner to restrain movement.
      2. (agriculture) A frame placed on the neck of an animal such as a cow, pig, or goose to prevent passage through a fence or other barrier.
         Each hog had a wooden triangular yoke 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. 1770, Peter Kalm [i.e., Pehr Kalm], translated by John Reinhold Forster, Travels into North America;[…], volume I, Warrington, Cheshire: […] William Eyres, →OCLC, pages 164–165
      3. (Ancient Rome) Chiefly in pass under the yoke: a raised yoke (sense 1.1), 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.
2. Senses relating to a pair of harnessed draught animals.
   1. (chiefly historical) A pair of draught animals, especially oxen, yoked together to pull something.
   2. (archaic) A pair of things linked in some way.
   3. (Ireland, Scotland) A carriage, a horse and cart; (by extension, generally) a car or other vehicle.
   4. (Ireland, informal) A miscellaneous object; a gadget.
      These three yokes [AK-47s] we're throwin' them up to them [CIRA] either way… 2023-08-05, Paul Williams, quoting Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, “What Hutch and Downhall said on their drive north”, in Irish Independent, page 12
   5. (Ireland, informal) A chap, a fellow.
   6. (Ireland, slang) A pill of a psychoactive drug.
3. Senses relating to quantities, and other extended uses.
   1. (chiefly Kent, archaic) An area of arable land, specifically one consisting of a quarter of a suling, or around 50–60 acres (20–24 hectares); hence, a small manor or piece of land.
      Of this ſuling Ralph de Curbeſpine holds one yoke and an half, which is and was worth ſeparately ten ſhillings. Adelold had half a ſuling and half a yoke, and in the time of K. Edward the Confeſſor it was worth 40 ſhillings, and afterwards 20 ſhillings, now 40 ſhillings. 1790, Edward Hasted, “The Hundred of Calehill”, in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent.[…], volume III, Canterbury, Kent: […] [F]or the author, by Simmons and Kirkby, →OCLC, page 207, column 2
   2. (chiefly England, regional (especially Kent), and Scotland, historical) An amount of work done with draught animals, lasting about half a day; (by extension) an amount or shift of any work.
      to work two yokes (literally, “to work both morning and afternoon”)
   3. (figurative)
      1. A bond of love, especially marriage; also, a bond of friendship or partnership; an obligation or task borne by two or more people.
      2. Something which oppresses or restrains a person; a burden.

Etymology 2

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).

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. 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.
      Bubulcus, […] An oxeheard, or coweheard: a driuer of oxen and kine: he that yoketh oxen, and […] goeth to plowe with them. 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
      Nodhas, son of Gotama, has fabricated this new prayer to thee, O India, who art eternal, and yokest thy coursers, […] 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
   2. 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.
   3. To put (something) around someone's neck like a yoke; also, to surround (someone's neck) with something.
   4. (historical)
      1. To place a collar on the neck of (a conquered person or prisoner) to restrain movement.
      2. (agriculture) 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.
   5. (figurative)
      1. To bring (two or more people or things) into a close relationship (often one that is undesired); to connect, to link, to unite.
         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: […] 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
         What trespass canst find, son of Kronos, in me, / That thou yokest me ever to pain? / Woe! Ah, woe! 1881, Aeschylus, “Prometheus Bound”, in Anna Swanwick, transl., The Dramas of Æschylus, 3rd edition, London: George Bell & Sons,[…], →OCLC, lines 593–595, page 372
         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. 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, part I (Sensorimotor Integration), page 61
      2. (obsolete) To bring into or keep (someone) in bondage or a state of submission; to enslave; to confine, to restrain; to oppress, to subjugate.
         For thys frayltie, that yoketh all mankynde, / Thou shalt awake, and rue this mysereye: / Rue on Syon. 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
         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, […] 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
   6. (chiefly Scotland, archaic, passive) 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).
2. (intransitive)
   1. To be or become connected, linked, or united in a relationship; to have dealings with.
   2. (chiefly Scotland, obsolete) To be or become joined in wedlock; to be married, to wed.

Etymology 3

See yolk.

noun

1. Misspelling of yolk.