yoking

Pluralyokings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of yoke.

   She spent the morning yoking a pair of oxen for the plowing contest at the county fair.

   Critics warned that yoking the two agencies together would slow every decision down.

   Note

   The final e of yoke drops before -ing, as in joking and poking. Off the farm the form often carries a warning, because the figurative verb pictures a close and often unwanted pairing: critics who object to yoking two agencies together expect each to slow the other down. Together frequently follows, as in yoking two ideas together.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The act of being yoked, or the period during which something stays yoked, as a team in harness.

   The plowman split the day into two yokings so the team could rest at noon.

   The first yoking of a young steer calls for patience and a calm older partner beside it.

   Similarshift, stint

   Note

   On the farm a yoking is one spell of a team in harness, and it served as a measure of work. The Complete Farmer reckons five hours, or five and a half in short days, as much as horses can sustain, adding that yokings of that length need no refreshment in the field. It counts freely, so a team works one yoking or several.

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