yonder

1. 1
   adverbdialectalSouthern US

   At, in, or to a distant place that is being pointed out or indicated; over there.

   The old barn sits over yonder, just past the creek.

   See that water tower yonder? Our place is right behind it.

   UsageUsually over yonder: the barn is over yonder. Outside dialect speech it sounds old-fashioned or folksy.

   Similarthere

   Oppositehere (entry)

   Note

   The word is yond (Old English ġeond) with the same -er that ends hither and thither, and it keeps their pointing force: yonder is a place you could show with a finger.

2. 2
   determinerarchaic

   That or those over there: used before a noun to point to someone or something at a distance, usually still within sight.

   Who owns those cattle grazing on yonder hill?

   Fire, the Sword, and Plagueǃ They may all be found in the yonder city; on my head alone may they fallǃ

   1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man

   UsageUsually with no article: yonder hill, yonder window. It works like that, with extra distance.

   Note

   Outside dialect it gives a sentence an old or poetic ring, the ring of Romeo's "what light through yonder window breaks". Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Romeo speaks the words "what light through yonder window breaks". shakespeare.mit.edu
3. 3
   far distancenounliteraryuncountable

   A vast, far-off distance, especially the open sky or a trackless forest.

   The little plane climbed steadily and disappeared into the wild blue yonder.

   The trail led west, past the last farm and into the green yonder of the forest.

   UsageUsually with the, most often in the wild blue yonder, meaning the sky.

   Note

   The noun lives mostly in one phrase, the wild blue yonder, the sky that pilots climb into, made famous by Robert MacArthur Crawford's Army Air Corps song of 1939, whose line sends the fliers up into it. Outside that phrase, the yonder has an open, poetic feel and names distance itself rather than any particular place.

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