# yoke

Pronunciation: say "YOHK" US /joʊk/, UK /jəʊk/

## Noun

1. A bar or frame that joins two oxen or other draft animals at the neck so they can pull a cart or plow; also, a similar device for a single draft animal.
   - Simple: A bar or frame put across the necks of two animals, like oxen, so they can pull something together.
   - _The oxen leaned into the yoke, and the cart lurched forward._
   - _An old carpenter in the valley still shapes yokes by hand for the few farmers who plow with oxen._
2. Something that oppresses or holds a person down; a burden.
   - Simple: Something that controls people and makes their life hard.
   - _The colony lived under the yoke of foreign rule for two centuries._
   - _After the divorce he felt free at last of the yoke of other people's expectations._
3. The fitted part of a garment around the shoulders or hips from which the rest hangs, often made of a double layer of fabric or decorated.
   - Simple: The part of a shirt, dress or skirt that fits around the shoulders or hips, with the rest hanging from it.
   - _The western shirt had a pointed yoke across the back, trimmed with white piping._
   - _Skirts with a deep hip yoke sit smoothly over the waist and flare out below it._
5. Any of various crosspieces or bars that link or support parts like an ox yoke, such as the frame a bell hangs from or a rudder's steering bar.
   - Simple: A bar or frame shaped like an ox yoke that joins or holds up parts of something.
   - _The mechanic replaced the cracked yoke that connects the drive shaft to the rear axle._
   - _In the old engine, each pair of valve rods was coupled by forged yokes._
6. The control column with a crosspiece used to steer an aircraft, or a game controller made to copy it.
   - Simple: The handle a pilot holds and turns to fly a plane, or a copy of it for flying games.
   - _During the approach the captain kept one hand on the yoke and the other on the throttle._
   - _The student pilot eased the yoke forward to level off at three thousand feet._
7. A pair of draft animals, especially oxen, working together; formerly, any pair of things that go together.
   - Simple: Two animals, usually oxen, that work together pulling a load. In the past it could mean any pair.
   - _The family traded a rifle and two blankets for a good yoke of oxen._
   - _It took four yoke of oxen to drag the great log out of the forest._
9. A bond of love, especially marriage, or of friendship or partnership; also, a duty or task shared by two or more people.
   - Simple: A close tie between people, like marriage or friendship, or a job they share.
   - _After thirty years under the same yoke, the couple could finish each other's sentences._
   - _The two parties accepted the joint yoke of government with little enthusiasm._
11. A pole worn across the neck and shoulders to carry a pair of buckets or other loads, one hanging from each end.
   - Simple: A pole you carry across your shoulders with a bucket hanging from each end.
   - _The milkmaid balanced two pails on a yoke and crossed the frozen yard with care._
   - _In the market, vendors carried fruit in baskets hung from bamboo yokes._
12. In ancient Rome, a raised yoke or an arch of three spears under which a defeated army was made to march in submission; chiefly in pass under the yoke.
   - Simple: In ancient Rome, a frame of spears that beaten soldiers had to walk under to show they had lost.
   - _The consul spared the prisoners' lives but made every one of them pass under the yoke before sending them home._
   - _Passing under the yoke was a humiliation the defeated army never forgot._
13. A collar fastened around the neck of a prisoner or conquered person to restrict movement.
   - Simple: A collar put around the neck of a prisoner so they cannot move freely.
   - _The museum displays a yoke once fastened on prisoners taken in war._
   - _Chained by their yokes, the captives were marched for days to the coast._
14. A frame fitted around the neck of an animal such as a cow, pig, or goose to stop it from getting through a fence or other barrier.
   - Simple: A frame put around an animal's neck so it cannot push through a fence.
   - _The farmer fitted the wandering cow with a wooden yoke so she could no longer squeeze through the hedge._
   - _Geese wearing small yokes could graze along the lane without slipping into the garden._
15. A miscellaneous object or gadget; a thing of any sort. *(colloquial, Ireland)*
   - Simple: Any object, or a small useful tool or machine.
   - _Would you hand me that yoke for opening the tins?_
   - _He has the kitchen full of yokes he bought off the telly and never uses._
16. A man; a fellow or chap. *(colloquial, Ireland)*
   - Simple: A man or a guy.
   - _Some yoke from the council came round asking about the wall._
   - _He's a decent yoke when you get to know him._
17. A carriage or a horse and cart; by extension, a car or any other vehicle. *(dialectal, Ireland, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A cart pulled by a horse, or any car or other vehicle.
   - _We'll take the yoke into town if the rain keeps up._
   - _The old farmer still drove his yoke to the fair, with the mare between the shafts._
18. A pill containing a psychoactive drug. *(slang, Ireland)*
   - Simple: A pill of a drug that changes how your mind works.
   - _He swore he'd never touch another yoke after the night he ended up in hospital._
   - _Gardaí found a bag of yokes in the boot of the car._

## Verb

4. To join or link people or things closely, often in a way they did not choose; also, to be joined in this way.
   - Simple: To join people or things closely together, often when they do not want it.
   - _The treaty yoked two old enemies in an uneasy alliance._
   - _Fairly or not, history will always yoke his name to the failed bank._
8. To join draft animals together with a yoke, or to put a yoke on them to pull a cart or plow; also, to harness a cart or plow to an animal.
   - Simple: To put a yoke on animals so they can pull something.
   - _The settlers yoked their oxen at dawn and had the wagons rolling within the hour._
   - _Farmers in the hill villages still yoke their bullocks to wooden plows._
10. To bring or keep people in bondage or submission, whether as slaves or as wage slaves; to restrain or oppress them.
   - Simple: To control people and keep them from being free.
   - _The conquerors yoked the native people and forced them to labor in the silver mines._
   - _Payday loans can yoke workers to jobs they hate for years._
19. To put one's arms, or something such as a garland, around someone's neck or waist.
   - Simple: To put your arms, or something like a necklace of flowers, around someone's neck or waist.
   - _She yoked her arm around her sister's waist as they walked home._
   - _Fans yoke their arms around each other's shoulders to sing the anthem._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A well-developed set of muscles across the neck and shoulders.
- (noun) A part of a magnetic circuit that carries no windings, such as the metal piece joining the poles of a magnet or part of the frame of a motor or generator.
- (noun) A set of electromagnetic coils fitted around the neck of a cathode-ray tube that steers the electron beam across the screen.
- (noun) A Y-shaped stand that supports a blowpipe or punty while the glass on it is reheated in the glory hole.
- (noun) In medieval Kent, a measure of farmland equal to a fourth of a suling, about 50 to 60 acres, and so a small estate.
- (noun) A spell of work with a team of oxen or horses, roughly half a day, and by extension any work shift.
- (verb) To fasten a restraining collar around the neck of a prisoner or captive.
- (verb) To fit a frame around an animal's neck so it cannot push through a fence.
- (verb) To marry someone, often with the suggestion that marriage is a burden.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5–7, 9, 11–18** — Old English ġeoc ("yoke") became Middle English yok. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *juką and Proto-Indo-European *yugóm ("yoke"), built on *yewg- ("to join, tie together"). Yuga, jugum and yoga are doublets. The meanings for a piece of land and an amount of work probably came from how much ground yoked animals could plow in a set time.
**Meanings 4, 8, 10, 19** — From Middle English yoken ("to put a yoke on a draft animal; to attach with a yoke; to bind"), from Old English ġeocian, from ġeoc ("yoke") + the verb-forming suffix -ian.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/yoke (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).