yo-yo
See also: yoyo, YOYO, and yoyó
English
![](Images/wiktionary/Us_yoyo_national_1a.jpg.webp)
Photograph of a national yo-yo champion in Chico, California
Etymology
Formerly a trademark. Most likely from Ilocano yóyo, or another Philippine cognate. [1](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈjəʊ.jəʊ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈjoʊ.joʊ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: (UK) -əʊjəʊ, (US) -oʊjoʊ
Noun
yo-yo (plural yo-yos)
- A toy consisting of a spheroidal or cylindrical spindle having a circular groove in which string is wound; it is used by holding the string in the fingers and reeling the spindle up and down by movements of the wrist.
- Coordinate terms: diabolo, whirligig
- I bought a yo-yo from the toy store yesterday.
- (finance) A volatile market that moves up and down.
- (informal) Someone who vacillates.
- (aviation, military) A dogfighting maneuver involving the attacker temporarily exchanging altitude for airspeed, or vice versa, in order to rapidly catch up with the defender or to prevent an overshoot.
- (sewing) A cloth rosette formed by gathering the outside edge of a circle of fabric in toward the centre using a running stitch.
- (informal) A foolish, annoying or incompetent person.
- It is hard to watch the management for very long and not conclude that the place is run by a bunch of yo-yos.
- 1985, Sting & Mark Knopfler (lyrics and music), “Money for Nothing”, in Brothers in Arms, performed by Dire Straits:
- Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it
- 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
- Henry glanced past him at the few other customers currently in attendance. "Hey! Any of you yo-yos headed up Castle Hill?"
Hyponyms
(dogfight maneuver):
- high yo-yo
- low yo-yo
Derived terms
- yo-yo despin
- yo-yo dieting
- yo-yo reflux
- yo-yo weight
Descendants
- → Italian: yo-yo
Translations
toy
|
volatile market
someone who vacillates
Verb
yo-yo (third-person singular simple present yo-yos, present participle yo-yoing, simple past and past participle yo-yoed)
- (intransitive) To vacillate; to move up and down.
- 1990, The Economist (volume 316, page 93)
- The yo-yoing stockmarket whizzed back up by around a quarter and then started to fall again.
- 1990, The Economist (volume 316, page 93)
References
- “Yo-yo.”, in Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, accessed November 19, 2021
Further reading
yo-yo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English yo-yo.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /joˈjɔ/*, /jɔˈjɔ/*
- Rhymes: -ɔ
Noun
yo-yo m (invariable)
- (games) yo-yo
Further reading
yo-yo on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia it
- yo-yo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
- yo-yo in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)