yoke

English

A bow yoke on a bullock team (wooden bar).

A yoke (aviation).

Etymology

Old English ġeoc, from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm. Cognate with Latin iugum (English jugular), Sanskrit युग (yugā, “yoke, team”), Old Church Slavonic иго (igo) (Russian иго), Persian یوغ (yogh). Compare yoga.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: yōk, IPA: /jəʊk/ SAMPA: /j@Uk/

  Rhymes: -əʊk

• Homophone: yolk

Verb

yoke (third-person singular simple present yokes, present participle yoking, simple past and past participle yoked)

1. To link or to join.
2. To unite, to connect.

Derived terms

• yoke together

Translations

link or join

Catalan: junyir (ca), júnyer (ca), enjovar (ca) Dutch: samenspannen Galician: xunguir (gl) Italian: aggiogare (it)

Portuguese: unir (pt) Russian: соединять (ru) Spanish: uncir (es)

unite or connect

Dutch: in de echt verbinden (huwelijk)

Russian: объединять

Noun

yoke (plural yokes)

1. A bar or frame of wood by which two oxen are joined at the heads or necks for working together.
2. A pair (of animals, especially oxen).
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke XIV:

     And another sayd: I have bought fyve yooke of oxen, and I must goo to prove them, I praye the have me excused.

3. A frame made to fit the neck and shoulders of a person, used for carrying a pair of buckets, etc., one at each end of the frame.
4. (figuratively) A burden; something which represses or restrains a person.
5. The part of a shirt that stretches over the shoulders, usually made out of a doubled piece of fabric. Or, a pair of fabric panels on trousers (especially jeans) or a skirt, across the back of the garment below the waistband.
6. (bodybuilding) Well-developed muscles of the neck and shoulders.
   • 2010, Jim Wendler, "Build an NFL Neck", Men's Fitness (April), page 73.

     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.

7. (aviation) The column-mounted control wheel of an aircraft.
8. (electronics) The electro-magnetic coil that deflects the electron beam in a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
9. (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.
10. (agriculture, dated, rare) An alternative name for a cowpoke.
11. (informal, Ireland) An undefined object, a gadget.
12. Common misspelling of yolk.

Synonyms

• (aviation): control wheel

Derived terms

• pass under the yoke
• under the yoke

Translations

wooden bar

Albanian: zgjedhë f. Armenian: լուծ (hy) (luç) Bosnian: igo (bs) n., jaram (hr) m. Breton: yev (br) m. Bulgarian: иго (bg) n. Catalan: jou m. Croatian: igo (hr) n., jaram (hr) m. Czech: jařmo (cs) n. Danish: åg (da) Dutch: juk (nl) n. Esperanto: jugo (eo) Estonian: ike (et) Finnish: ies (fi) French: joug (fr) m. Galician: xugo (gl) m., canga (gl) f. German: Joch (de) n. Hungarian: iga (hu), járom (hu) Italian: giogo (it) m. Korean: 겨리 (gyeori), 멍에 (meongE) Kurdish: nîr (ku) m. Latin: iugum (la) n.

Latvian: jūgs (lv) m., iejūgs (lv) m. Lithuanian: jungas (lt) m. Luxembourgish: Jach (lb) n. Macedonian: иго (mk) (igo) n., јарем (mk) (jarem) m. Norwegian: åk (no) n. Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: иго (igo) n. Glagolitic: ⰉⰃⰑ (igo) n. Old English: ġeoc (ang) n. Polish: jarzmo (pl) Portuguese: jugo (pt) Romanian: jug (ro) Russian: ярмо (ru) (jarmó) n., хомут (ru) m., (figuratively) иго (ru) (ígo) n. Sanskrit: युग (sa) (yugá) n. Serbian: Cyrillic: иго (sr) n. Latin: igo (sr) n. Slovak: jarmo (sk) n. Slovene: komat (sl) m., jarem (sl) m. Spanish: yugo (es) m. Swedish: ok (sv) n. Turkish: boyunduruk (tr)

pair of animals

Catalan: coble (ca) m. Italian: coppia (it) f.

yoke of a shirt

Swedish: ok (sv) n.

electromagnetic coil

nautical yoke