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yoke

 
(yōk) pronunciation
n.
    1. A crossbar with two U-shaped pieces that encircle the necks of a pair of oxen or other draft animals working together.
    2. pl., yoke, or yokes. A pair of draft animals, such as oxen, joined by a yoke.
    3. A bar used with a double harness to connect the collar of each horse to the pole of a wagon or coach.
  1. A frame designed to be carried across a person's shoulders with equal loads suspended from each end.
  2. Nautical. A crossbar on a ship's rudder to which the steering cables are connected.
  3. A clamp or vise that holds a machine part in place or controls its movement or that holds two such parts together.
  4. A piece of a garment that is closely fitted, either around the neck and shoulders or at the hips, and from which an unfitted or gathered part of the garment is hung.
  5. Something that connects or joins together; a bond or tie.
  6. Electronics. A series of two or more magnetic recording heads fastened securely together for playing or recording on more than one track simultaneously.
    1. Any of various emblems of subjugation, such as a structure made of two upright spears with a third laid across them, under which conquered enemies of ancient Rome were forced to march in subjection.
    2. The condition of being subjugated by or as if by a conqueror; subjugation or bondage: 14th-century Russia under the Tartar yoke; the yoke of drug addiction.

v., yoked, yok·ing, yokes.

v.tr.
  1. To fit or join with a yoke.
    1. To harness a draft animal to.
    2. To harness (a draft animal) to a vehicle or an implement.
  2. To join securely as if with a yoke; bind: partners who were yoked together for life.
  3. To force into heavy labor, bondage, or subjugation.
v.intr.
To become joined securely.

[Middle English, from Old English geoc.]


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A yoke is a wooden crosspiece of the kind fixed over the necks of work animals. A yolk is the yellow part of an egg (and is related to the word yellow).

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noun

  1. Two items of the same kind together: brace, couple, couplet, doublet, duet, duo, match, pair, two, twosome. See group, same/different/compare.
  2. That which unites or binds: bond, knot, ligament, ligature, link, nexus, tie, vinculum. See connect.
  3. A state of subjugation to an owner or master: bondage, enslavement, helotry, serfdom, servileness, servility, servitude, slavery, thrall, thralldom, villeinage. See over/under.

verb

    To bring or come together into a united whole: coalesce, combine, compound, concrete, conjoin, conjugate, connect, consolidate, couple, join, link, marry, meld, unify, unite, wed. See assemble/disassemble.


v

Definition: bond together; join
Antonyms: disconnect, disjoin

n. 1. the crossbar of a rudder, to whose ends ropes are fastened.

2. a control lever in an aircraft.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.


1. A horizontal framework around the form work for a column.
2. The horizontal piece forming the head of a window or door frame.
3. In plumbing, a two-way coupling for pipes, in the shape of the letter Y.
4. A yoke vent.

yoke, 1



[Ar]

1. A wooden crosspiece fastened over the necks of a pair of oxen or horses. The yoke was connected to a plough, cart, or wagon so that the combined force of the two animals could be evenly distributed.

2. A U-shaped stone, often elaborately carved, found widely in Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, and northern parts of South America. Believed to be stone imitations of protective belts worn by players in the ball-courts.

mod. having well-marked abdominal muscles; have heavy muscles.  That guy is really yoked. I wonder how much he works out.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce


n.

An implement, madam, to whose Latin name, jugum, we owe one of the most illuminating words in our language -- a word that defines the matrimonial situation with precision, point and poignancy. A thousand apologies for withholding it.


A cumbersome wooden collar worn about the neck and closed with a lock and key, in earlier times the yoke was associated with farm animals and with punishment and slavery. The yoke can also have spiritual symbolism, as when Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."


The control column of a large aircraft, including the control wheel or the ram’s horn. Back-and-forth movement of the yoke operates the elevators, whereas sideway movement operates the ailerons.

Picture 1 of yoke



1. an anatomical connecting structure; a depression or ridge connecting two structures.
2. a primitive device for coupling two or more animals to one vehicle or implement. Usually a wooden bar that sits on the top of the neck with a metal loop to go around the neck of each animal.

  • y. muscles — a pair of extraocular muscles.
Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'yoke'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to yoke, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Yoke.

A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen. A pair of oxen may be called a yoke of oxen, and yoke is also a verb, as in "to yoke a pair of oxen". Other animals that may be yoked include horses, mules, donkeys and water buffalo.

Contents

Etymology

See Wiktionary appendix: *yugóm

The word "yoke" is believed to derive from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (yoke), from verb *yeug- (join, unite). This root has descendants in almost all known Indo-European languages including German Joch, Latin iugum, Ancient Greek ζυγόν (zygon), Sanskrit युग (yugá), Hittite 𒄿𒌑𒃷 (iúkan), Old Church Slavonic иго (igo), Lithuanian jungas, Old Irish cuing, Armenian լուծ (luç) etc. (all meaning "yoke"). The verb to subjugate derives from it.

Bow or neck yoke

Bow yokes on a bullock team

A bow yoke (play /ˈb/) is a shaped wooden crosspiece bound to the necks of a pair of oxen (or occasionally to horses). It is held on the animals' necks by an oxbow, from which it gets its name. The oxbow is usually U-shaped and also transmits force from the animals' shoulders. A swivel between the animals, beneath the centre of the yoke, attaches to the pole of a vehicle or to chains (traces) used to drag a load.

Bow yokes are traditional in Europe, and in the United States, Australia and Africa.

Head yoke

Oxen in Germany wearing head yokes

A head yoke fits onto the head of the oxen. It usually fits behind the horns, and has carved-out sections into which the horns fit; it may be a single beam attached to both oxen, or each ox may have a separate short beam (see picture). The yoke is then strapped to the horns of the oxen with yoke straps. Some types fit instead onto the front of the head, again strapped to the horns, and ox pads are then used for cushioning the forehead of the ox. A tug pole is held to the bottom of the yoke using yoke irons and chains. The tug pole can either be a short pole with a chain attached for hauling, or a long pole with a hook on the end that has no chain at all. Sometimes the pole is attached to a wagon and the oxen are simply backed over this pole, the pole is then raised between them and a backing bolt is dropped into the chains on the yoke irons in order to haul the wagon.

Head yokes are widely used in southern Europe,[citation needed] much of South America and in Canada.

Withers yoke

Withers yokes in use in Burma

A withers yoke is a yoke that fits just in front of the withers of the oxen. The yoke is held in position by straps, either alone or with a pair of wooden staves either side of the ox's withers; the pull is however from the yoke itself, not from the staves. Withers yokes particularly suit zebu cattle, which have high humps on their withers.

Withers yokes are widely used in Africa and India, where zebu cattle are common.

Comparison

Although all three yoke types are effective, each has its advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned above, withers yokes suit zebu cattle, and head yokes can of course only be used for animals with suitable horns. Head yokes need to be re-shaped frequently to fit the animals' horns as they grow; unlike other types, a single-beam head yoke fixes the heads of the oxen apart, helping them to stand quietly without fighting. A single-beam head yoke may offer better braking ability on downhill grades and appears to be preferred in rugged mountainous areas such as Switzerland, Spain and parts of Italy.[1] Bow yokes need to be the correct size for the animal, and new ones are often made as the animal grows, but they need no adjustment in use. Whichever type is used, various lengths of yoke may be required for different agricultural implements or to adjust to different crop-row spacings.[2]

Single yoke

A child ploughing the land with a single-yoked water buffalo in Don Det, Si Pan Don, Laos

A yoke may be used with a single animal. Oxen are normally worked in pairs, but water buffalo in Asian countries are commonly used singly, with the aid of a bow-shaped withers yoke.[3] Use of single bow or withers yokes on oxen is documented from North America, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Switzerland, and several designs of single head or forehead yoke are recorded in Germany.[4]

Symbolism

The yoke has of connotations of subservience; in some ancient cultures it was traditional to force a defeated enemy to pass beneath a symbolic yoke of spears or swords. A remnant of this tradition is the saber arch seen at some military weddings.[citation needed] The yoke may be a metaphor for something oppressive or burdensome, such as imperialism, or for a link or bond between two people, such as marriage.[5] The yoke is frequently used metaphorically in the Bible, first in Genesis regarding Esau.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Roosenberg, Richard (1992). "Britchen, Brakes, Head Yokes for restraining loads behind oxen". TechGuides. Tillers International. http://www.tillersinternational.org/oxen/resources_techguides/BritchenBrakesandHeadYokesforRestrainingLoadsBehindOxenTechGuide.pdf. Retrieved May 2011. 
  2. ^ "Harnessing draught animals". A Guide for Farmers on Good Land Husbandry. Zimbabwe Farmers Union; Department for Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex). http://www.uz.ac.zw/agriculture/cropscience/CD/gff/14%20Draught%20animal%20harnessing.pdf. Retrieved May 2011. 
  3. ^ Conroy, Drew. "Ox Yokes: Culture, Comfort and Animal Welfare". World Association for Transport Animal Welfare and Studies. http://www.taws.org/TAWS2004/TAWS04-Conroy-040419-A4-all.pdf. Retrieved May 2011. 
  4. ^ Roosenberg, Richard (1997). "Yoking and Harnessing Single Cattle". TechGuides. Tillers International. http://www.tillersinternational.org/oxen/resources_techguides/YokingandHarnessingSingleCattleTechGuide.pdf. Retrieved May 2011. 
  5. ^ Oxford American Dictionaries (computer application). Apple Computer. 2005. 
  6. ^ Genesis 27:40

External links


Translations:

Yoke

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - åg, bærestykke, spand dyr
v. tr. - spænde i åg, bringe under åget, forene
v. intr. - spænde i åg, bringe under åget, forene

Nederlands (Dutch)
juk, (mv) span (ossen etc.), verbintenis, onderworpenheid, klokkenbalk, helmstok, inspannen (van dieren onder een juk), verbinden (paar), onderwerpen

Français (French)
n. - (lit) joug, palanche, (fig) joug, attelage de boeufs, (Cout) empiècement, (Constr) armature, moise
v. tr. - atteler, (fig) joindre
v. intr. - s'atteler, être attelé

Deutsch (German)
v. - ins Joch spannen, anspannen, verbinden, zusammenarbeiten
n. - Joch, Sattel, Joch Landes (vom Ochsen gepflügt)

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - ζεύω, ζευγαρώνω, υποδουλώνω
n. - ζυγός, λαιμαριά

Italiano (Italian)
aggiogare, giogo

Português (Portuguese)
v. - unir
n. - dispositivo ou algo usado para unir (m)

Русский (Russian)
ярмо, коромысло, иго, запрягать, соединять, подходить друг другу

Español (Spanish)
n. - yugo
v. tr. - uncir, atar
v. intr. - estar unido, asociado

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - oka, lägga oket på, spänna, spänna för, oka ihop, koppla samman, para, underkuva (åld.)
n. - ok, par, spann, roderok (sjö.), besparing (sömn.), ok, gaffel (tekn.)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
轭, 套, 轭状物, 给...套上轭, 连接, 配合, 一起做

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 軛, 套, 軛狀物
v. tr. - 給...套上軛
v. intr. - 連接, 配合, 一起做

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 멍에, 멍에로 메운 한 쌍의 소, 어깻죽지
v. tr. - 멍에를 얹다, 결합시키다, 이어매다
v. intr. - 동행이 되다, 함께 되다, 어울리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - くびき, 2頭の牛, きずな, くびき状の物, 天びん棒, ヨーク, 圧迫, 卵黄
v. - …にくびきを付ける, 結び付ける

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يكبت, يضغط على, يربط ( الثور) بخشبه (الاسم) اطار خشبي للتثبيت‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עול, צמד-בקר, אסל, כתף-הבגד, מותני-חצאית, שעבוד, קשר מחייב (בעיקר נישואים), מטיל של ברזל רך בין קוטבי אלקטרומגנט‬
v. tr. - ‮חיבר, הצמיד, רתם בעול‬
v. intr. - ‮עבדו יחד, התאימו‬


 
 
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zygal
misyoke
deflection coil (electronics)

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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Fowler's Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. © 1999, 2004 All rights reserved.  Read more
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McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
McGraw-Hill Slang Dictionary. McGraw-Hill's Essential American Slang Dictionary. Copyright © 2007 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Devil's Dictionary. Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911  Read more
The Dream Encyclopedia. The Dreams Encyclopedia. 1995 ©Visible Ink Press (VisibleInkPress.com). All rights reserved.  Read more
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation. An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation.. Copyright © 2005 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved.  Read more
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