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yankeemore about yankee

yankee

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Yankee  \Yan"kee\,  a. 
  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}. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Yankee  \Yan"kee\,  n.  [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.] 
  A  nickname  for  a  native  or  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). 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  Yankee 
  adj  :  used  by  southerners  for  an  inhabitant  of  a  northern  state  in 
  the  United  States  (especially  a  Union  soldier)  [syn:  {Yankee}] 
  n  1:  an  American  who  lives  in  the  North  (especially  during  the 
  American  Civil  War)  [syn:  {Yankee},  {Yank},  {Northerner}] 
  2:  an  American  who  lives  in  New  England  [syn:  {New  Englander}, 
  {Yankee},  {Yank}] 
  3:  an  American  [syn:  {Yankee},  {Yank},  {Yankee-Doddle}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  YANKEE,  n.  In  Europe,  an  American.  In  the  Northern  States  of  our 
  Union,  a  New  Englander  In  the  Southern  States  the  word  is  unknown. 
  (See  DAMNYANK.)




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