YANKEES

Noun

Yankees

plural of Yankee

Proper noun

the Yankees

(baseball) The team New York Yankees.

Anagrams

• Keaneys, Keseyan

Source: Wiktionary


YANKEE

Yan"kee, n. Etym: [Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon ("Hist. of the Amer. War," ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant excellent; as, a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow- yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.]

Definition: A nickname for a native of citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States. From meanness first this Portsmouth Yankey rose, And still to meanness all his conduct flows. Oppression, A poem by an American (Boston, 1765).

Yan"kee, a.

Definition: Of or pertaining to a Yankee; characteristic of the Yankees. The alertness of the Yankee aspect. Hawthorne. Yankee clover. (Bot.) See Japan clover, under Japan.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

7 May 2025

RUNNER

(noun) a person who is employed to deliver messages or documents; “he sent a runner over with the contract”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.

coffee icon