yark

yark

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /jɑːk/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English ȝarken, ȝerken, from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”), from Proto-Germanic *garwakōną (“to prepare”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to grab, take, rake”), equivalent to yare +‎ -k. Related to Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”), ġearu (“prepared, ready, equipped, complete, finished, yare”). More at yare.

Verb

yark (third-person singular simple present yarks, present participle yarking, simple past and past participle yarked)

1. (transitive, Britain dialectal) To make ready; prepare.
   • 1881, Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland:

     [...] Yet thou hast given us leather to yark, and leather to bark, [...]

2. (transitive, obsolete) To dispose; be set in order for; be destined or intended for.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To set open; open.

Derived terms

• yarking

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, probably originally imitative; compare jerk etc.

Alternative forms

• yerk

Verb

yark (third-person singular simple present yarks, present participle yarking, simple past and past participle yarked)

1. To draw (stitches etc.) tight.
2. To hit, strike, especially with a cane or whip.
3. To crack (a whip).
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.96:

     he would throw a Dagger, and make a whip to yarke and lash [tr. faisoit craqueter], as cunningly as any Carter in France.

Anagrams

• Kary, Kray, Kyra, kary-