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171 entries found
yacht (n.)
1550s, yeaghe "a light, fast-sailing ship," from Norwegian jaght or early Dutch jaght, both from Middle Low German jacht, shortened form of jachtschip "fast pirate ship," literally "ship for chasing," from jacht "chase," from jagen "to chase, hunt," from Old High German jagon, from Proto-Germanic *yago-, from PIE root *yek- (2) "to hunt" (source also of Hittite ekt- "hunting net"). Related: Yachting; yachtsman.
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yack (v.)
also yak, "to talk, to chatter," 1950, slang, probably short for yackety-yacking "talk" (1947), probably echoic (compare Australian slang yacker "talk, conversation," 1882). Related: Yacked; yacking.
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yadda-yadda 
"and so on," 1990s, of echoic origin (compare yatata "talk idly, chatter," 1940s; and yatter "to talk incessantly or idly," 1825).
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yah (interj.)
exclamation of defiance or dismissal, from 1812. Extended form yah-boo by 1910.
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yahoo (n.)
"a brute in human form," 1726, from the race of brutish human creatures in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels." "A made name, prob. meant to suggest disgust" [Century Dictionary]. "Freq. in mod. use, a person lacking cultivation or sensibility, a philistine; a lout; a hooligan" [OED]. The internet search engine so called from 1994.
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Yahtzee (n.)
dice game, 1957, proprietary (E.S. Lowe Co., N.Y.), apparently based on yacht.
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Yahweh 
1869, hypothetical reconstruction of the tetragrammaton YHWH (see Jehovah), based on the assumption that the tetragrammaton is the imperfective of Hebrew verb hawah, earlier form of hayah "was," in the sense of "the one who is, the existing."
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yak (n.)
"wild ox of central Asia," 1795, from Tibetan g-yag "male yak." Attested in French from 1791.
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yak (v.)
"laugh," 1938, variant of yuck (2); "talk idly," 1950, variant of yack. Related: Yakked; yakking.
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Yakima 
Native American people of Washington State, 1852, perhaps from Sahaptin /iyakima/ "pregnant women."
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