1856. Stray Yankee in Texas, 113. The Colonel whittled away at a bit of stick in the most Yankeefied way possible.
18[?]. Trumbull [Bartlett]. The name [Yengees or Yenkees] was originally given by the Massachusetts Indians to the English Colonists, being the nearest sound they could give for 'English.' It was afterwards adopted by the Dutch on the Hudson, who applied the term in contempt to all the people of New England. During the American Revolution, it was eagerly caught at by the British soldiers.
18[?]. Trumbull [Bartlett]. When Yankies, skill'd in martial rule, First put the British troops to school.
1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 1 S., Int. We have the present Yankee, full of expedients, half-master of all trades, inventive in all but the beautiful, full of shifts, not yet capable of comfort. Ibid. (1862), 2 S. iv. Ez ef we could maysure stupenjious events By the low Yankee stan'ard o' dollars and cents.
d. 1852. Moore, Diary, vii. 231. Approaching very fast the sublime of Yankeeism.
d. 1859. De Quincey, Style, Note 1. Yankee, in the American use, does not mean a citizen of the United States as opposed to a foreigner, but a citizen of the northern New England states.
1861. Death of Lincoln Despotism [Bartlett]. And hold them till Abe Lincoln, and all his Northern scum, Shall own our independence of Yankee Doodle-*dom.
18[?]. Nation [Bartlett]. The 'Yanks,' or the equally grovelling' nigger,' one or the other, what we do not know, has corrupted 'Pollard of Richmond.'
c. 1889. Lord Houghton, 'Knock at the Door' [Notes and Queries, 7 S. xi. 106]. Examine him outside and in I'd thank ye, Morals, Parisian; manners, perfect Yankee.
1890. Broughton, Alas, viii. Hackneyed as only Yankeedom and Cockneydom,rushing hand-in-hand through all earth's sacrednesses can hackney.
3. (American).—A glass of whiskey sweetened with molasses.
Adj. and adv. (colloquial).—A generic intensive: spanking, excellent.
1713. [Gordon, Hist. Am. War (1789), 1. 324.] You may wish to know the origin of the term Yankee. . . . It was a cant favourite word with Farmer Jonathan Hastings of Cambridge about 1713. . . . The inventor used it to express excellency. A Yankee good horse, or Yankee cider and the like were an excellent good horse and excellent cider.
Yanker, subs. (common).—1. A great falsehood: see Whopper.
1822. Hogg, Three Perils of Man, 1. 336. Ay, billy, that is a yanker. . . . When ane is gaun to tell a lie, there's naething like telling a plumper at aince.
2. See Yank, verb.
Yankie, subs. (Scotch).—1. A sharp, forward, clever woman.
2. See Yank, verb 2.
Yannam. See Pannam (of which yannam is probably a misprint).
Yap, subs, (provincial).—1. A yelp; 2 = a cur, a tyke (q.v.); whence (3) = a countryman. Also as verb = to bark, yelp; yapster = a dog (Tufts, 1798).
1866. Eliot, Felix Holt, xlii. Moro yapped in a puppy voice at their heels.
1889. Blackmore, Kit and Kitty, xxiv. Presently he yapped as in hot chase of a rabbit.
1901. Flynt and Walton, Powers that Prey, 21. This yap from the country. Ibid., 60. These yaps come to town and throw up their hands at sights that a Bowery kid wouldn't drop a cigarette snipe to see.
Verb (back slang).—To pay. Whence yappy = over-generous, SOFT (q.v.), foolish: i.e. paying mad.
Yard, subs. (venery).—The penis: see Prick.
