year 
At the zeres end the! comen azen, and founden the eame 
Lettres and Figures, the whiche tliei hadde writen the zeer 
before, withouten ony defaute. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 17. 
Thei sholde not retume with-inne two yere^ lesae than 
thei myght fyude the seide childe. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 1. 29. 
5. pi. Period of life ; age : as, he is very vigor- 
ous for his years: often used specifically to 
note old age. See in years, below. 
He is made as strong as brass, is of brave years too, 
Aiid doughty of complexion. 
Fletcher, Rule a Wife, ii. 1. 
He [Essex] . . . profess'd he would not contend witli 
the Queen, nor excuse the Faults of liis young Years either 
in whole or in part. Baker, Chronicles, p. 389. 
He hiinselfe affected ease and quiet, now growing into 
yeares. Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 18, 1673. 
What is there quite so profoundly human as an old 
man's memory of a mother who died in his earlier t/«ar^/ 
O. W. Holmes, Professor, viii. 
The older plural year still remains in popular language : 
ns, the horse is ten year old. 
And threescore year would make the world away. 
Shak., Sonnets, xi. 
Then you know a boy is an ass, 
Then you knuw the worth of a lass, 
Once you have come to forty year. 
Thackeray, Age of Wisdom. 
Anomalistic year. See anomalistic.— AbXtsI year. 
Same as sidereal y^ar.— Astronomical year. See def. 1. 
— A year and a day, the lapse of a year with a day abided 
to it: ill law constituting u period which iu some cases 
determines a ri^lit or liability : as, where one is fatally 
wounded with murderous intent, the killing is murder 
if death ensues withlu a year and a day. See dayl. 
I suere to you be the oth that I made to you when ye 
made me knyght that I shall seche hym a yere and a day, 
but with-ynne that space I may knowe trewe tldinges. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 682. 
A year's mind. See mt«di.— Bird of the year. See 
Wrdl.— Bissextile year, leap-year. See bissextile.— 
Canicular year. St-e canicular.— dvM year, the year 
in use in the ordinary atfairs of life ; the year recognized 
by the law ; a year accordin;; to the calendar. It is either 
aolar, like the civil year of christian countries, or lunar, 
like the Mohammeilan year, or lunUolar, like the He- 
brew year. — Climacteric years. See climacteric. — Com- 
mon year, a year ••! :it>6 days, as distiiigiiishe<l from a 
leap-year. — Cynic year. Same aa .Sothic yar. — Eccle- 
siastical year, tht* year as arranged in the ecclesia-s- 
ticiii i-itleiidar. For details uf it, set- A'um/«y.— Eighty 
years' war. See wari.— Embollsmlc year, a year of 
thirteOM months, occurring; in a lunisolar calendar, like 
that of the Jews.— Emergent year. Ste emerijent.— 
Enneatical yearst. Ste enneatic.— Estate for years. 
See #«/(iff.— Fiscal year. Seey(»cai.— Four years' lim- 
itation law. See liinit-ition.- Gregorian year. See 
Greyorian. — Hebrew year, a lutii.s<.iliir year, ioiuiK>8ed 
of 12 or 13 months of 29 or 30 days. In every cycle of 
nineteen years, the 3d, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th 
are embolismic years and have 13 months, while the rest 
are ordinary yearit and have 12 months. Botli the em- 
bolismic and the ordinary years are further distinguished 
aa regular, de/ectice. and atmnd'int. — Hundred years' 
wax. See irarl. — In years, advanced in Hge. 
I uui honest in my Inclinations, 
And would not, wer't not to avoid Offence, make a 
Lady a little in Year* believe I think her young. 
Etherege, Man of .Mode, ii. 2. 
Men in Years more cahnly Wroncs resent. 
Con^jreiv, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
The latly, who was a little m years, having parted with 
her fortune to her dearest life, lie left her. 
Goldgmitli, Register of Scotch Marriages. 
Julian year, (a) \ peri*>d of 36oi days. (6) Incorrectly, 
a year of the Julian calendar.— Leap year. See l>'ap- 
year.— heg&l year, the year by wliicn dates were reck- 
oned, which until 1752 began March 25th : hence it was 
usual t)etween January 1st and March 2.'ith to date the 
year both ways, as February 19th, 1745-6 (that is, 1746 ac- 
cording to pre^nt reckoning).— Lunar year, a period con- 
sisting of 12 lunar months. The lunar axtrumnnical year 
consists of 12 lunar synodical months, (»r 354 days, 8 Iiours, 
48 minutes, 36 secomls. The cMnui-m lunar year consists 
of \-> lunar civil months, or '.ih\ days. — Lunlsolax year. 
See fttniir'jfar.— Mohammedan year, a purely lunar year 
of 12 months, having alternately :M and 21> days, except 
that in certain years the last month has 80 days instead 
of 29. These years are the 2d. 5th. 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 
18th, 2l8t. 24tli, 26th, and 2i>th of oach cycle of thirty years. 
The years are counted from the h-jira, A. D. 622, July 15th. 
— Natural year. Same as tropical i/'-ar. — Planetary 
years. See p/njw'ar»/.— Platonic year, a great cycle of 
years at the end of which it was supposed that the celes- 
tial IxMlies will be found in the same places they were 
in at the creation. Also called (/rfat <ir perfect y>'ar.— 
Regnal, sabbatical, sidereal year. See the adjectives. 
— Seven years' war. S.-e SiU'tn'an wars, under Silesian. 
— Solar year. s. e dtf. i.— Sothic year. See Sothic— 
Tenancy from year to year. See tenancy. — Term of 
years, term for years. See term. 6 (.o. ~ Theban year. 
St-e TJieimn. — Thirty years' war. See thirty. — To be 
struck or stricken in years. See «/n(bc.— Tropical 
year. See def. l.— Vague year, an Kgypti;in year of 
365 days, railed ca;/ae — t]mt is, wandering— because iu 
the coui-se of 15('7 years it l)egins at all seasons.— Tear by 
y6ar,fromone year to another ; with each succeeding year. 
Disease, augmenting yar by yar, 
Show'd the grim king by gradual st-cps brought near. 
Crabhe, Work;*, I. 11)2. 
Year, day, and waste, part of the sovereiiin's preroga- 
tive in England, whereby he was entitled to the profits 
for a year and a day of the lands held by pernons attainted 
of petty treaton or felony, together with the right of wast- 
7013 
ing them, afterward restoring them to the lord of the fee. 
It was abolished by the Felony Act, 1870.— Year In, year 
out, always ; from one year to another. 
Sunbeams never came, never gleamed, year in, year out, 
across the clear darkness of the broad water floor. 
C. F. Woolson, East Angels, xxviii. 
Year of confusion, the 707th year of the Roman era, 
ending with 47 b. c, being the year before the first intro- 
duction of the Julian calendar. It had 445 days. — Year 
of grace, year of the Christian era. — Year Of jubilee. 
See jufnlee, 1.— Year Of Our Lord, year of the Christian 
era.— Years of discretion. See discretion.— Yoxcag of 
the year. See ymma. 
yeara, n. See poison-oak. 
year-bird (yer'berd), v. The djolan: said to 
have been so called from a notion that it an- 
nually added a wrinkle to the plicated skin at 
the base of the beak. 
year-book (yer'buk), n. 1. A book giving facts 
about the year, its chief seasons, festivals, 
dates, etc., or other kindred snl>jects : as, 
Hone's Ycar-Bool: — 2. A book published every 
year, every annual issue containing new or 
additional information; a work published an- 
nually and intended to supply fresh informa- 
tion on matters in regard to which changes are 
continually taking place : as, a parish year- 
hook. 
A new year-book, specially prepared for business-men, 
will be issued, . . . under the title of The Year-Book of 
Commerce. The Academy, June 1, 1889, p. 376. 
3, One of a number of books containing chron- 
ological reports of early cases adjudged or 
argued in the courts of England. The series first 
printed and long known as The Year Books contains cases 
from the beginning of the reign of Edward II. down to 
the end of Edward III., and from the beginning of Henry 
IV. down to near the end of Henry VIII. Others later 
published are Maynard's Edward I. and II., and Hor- 
wood's translation from MS. whith presents cases in va- 
rious years of Edward I. from 11 to 35 inclusive. 
yeard, ». An obsolete or dialectal form of eard 
and of earth. 
year-dayf (yer'da), «. [< ME. ^ereday (ef. AS. 
f/eardoffas, pi., days of yore); < year 4- day^.] 
An anniversary day ; a day on which prayers 
were said for the dead. HaUhcell. 
We haue ordeyned ... to kepe the ^ereday of Jon 
lyster of Cambryge gerely, on mydelenton sonday, . . . be- 
cause he gafe va iiij Marc, in the begynnyng and to the 
fortheraunce of our gylde. 
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 281. 
yeard-fastt, a. Fast in the earth or ground. 
O alKJUt the midst o' Clyde's water 
There was a veard fast stane, 
Burd 'EW'n (Chikis Ballads, III. 214). 
yeared (yerd), a. [< year + -cv/2,] Xumberiug 
years; aged. 
Both were of best feature, of high race, 
Yeared but to thirty. B. Jonxon, Sejanus, i. 1. 
yearlily (yer'li-li), adv. [< yearly + -fy'^.'] 
Yearly. [Kare.] 
The great quaking grass soweu yearlily in many of the 
London gardens. T. Johnson, Herball. 
yearling (yer'ling), ». and a. [== ii.jdhrling; 
IIS year + -Innj'^. Cf. L. rifidus, a calf. lit. a 
'yearling*: nee veal.'] I. n. 1. A young beast 
one year old or in the second year of its age. — 
2. Under racing and trotting rules, a horse 
one year old, dating from January 1st of the 
year of foaling. 
He was buying yearlings, ton, and seemed keen about 
racing, but as yet not a feather had been plucked from 
the pigeon's wing. Whyte Melville, White Rose, II. vi. 
II, a. A year old; of a year's age, duration, 
or date: as, a yearling heifer. 
As yearling brides provide lace caps, and work rich 
clothes for the expected darling. 
Thackeray, Newcomes, i. 
yearlong (yer'long), a. Lasting or continuing 
a vear. 
"Thee," I said, 
"From yearlong poring on thy pictured eyes. 
Ere seen I loved." Tennyson, Princess, vii. 
Accepting year-long exile from his home. 
The Atlantic, LIX. 361. 
yearly (yer'li), a. [< ME. yeerly, < AS. gedrlic 
(= G. Jdhrlich)', as year + -/^^.] 1. Annual; 
happening, accruing, or coming every year: 
as, a yearly rent or income. 
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay. 
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 3ir>. 
These two last [Euphrates and Tigris] are famous for 
their yearely ouerflowings. Purchas, l*ilgrimage, p. 340. 
2. Lasting or continuing for a year: as, a 
yearly plant; a yearly tenant or tenancy. — 3. 
Comprehending a year; accomplished in a 
year : as, the yearly circuit or revolution of 
the earth. 
The yearly course that brings this day about 
Shall never see it but a holiday. 
Shak., K. John, lil. 1. 81. 
yearning 
Whose cheerful tenants bless their yearly toil. 
Vope^ Moral Essays, iv. 183. 
yearly (yer'li), adv. [< ME. yerely; < yearly, «.] 
Annually; once a year: as, blessings yearly 
bestowed. 
Also there shalbe allowed to him fower Vshcrs, every 
of them being yerely allowed for tlie same 20". 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 2. 
Yearly will I do this rite. Shak., Much Ado, v. 3. 23, 
yeam^ (yem), v. i. [< ME. yerneuj ^ernen, < AS. 
giernan^gyrnanj geornian^ yearn, desire, = Icel. 
girna = Goth. ^«/ni;aH, desire, long for ; from an 
adj., AS. georn, ME. s^rn = OS. gem = OHG. 
MHG. gem = Icel. gjaru = Sw. gerna = Dan. 
gjserne = Goth, ^gairns (in comp. faihu-gairns), 
desirous, eager (see yem'^)^ with formative -//. 
from the root seen in OH(jr. MHG. ger, eager, 
OHG. gerouy MHG. geren, G. be-gehreu, long 
for.] 1. To long for something ; desire eager- 
ly; feel desire or longing. 
Angels euer sese and ener thay jeme for to see. 
Hawpole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 4. 
Drede delitable drynke, and thow shalt do the bettere ; 
Mesure is medcyne, thoug thow moche ^erne. 
Piers Plourman (BX i- 35. 
O, Juvenal, lorde, trewe is thy sentence, 
That litel witen folk what is to yerne. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 198. 
Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his 
brother. Gen. xliii. 30. 
All men have a yearning curiosity to behold a man of 
heroic worth. Steele, Spectator, No. 340. 
But my heart would still yearn for the sound of the waves 
That sing as they flow by my forefathers' graves. 
O. W. Holmes, The Hudson. 
2t. To cry out eagerly; give tongue, as a dog. 
When Foxes and Badgerds haue yong cubbes, take all 
your olde Terryers and put them inti) the grounde; and 
when they besinne to baye (which in the earth is called 
i/earjij/jij;), you muste holde your yong Terryers, . . . that 
they may lierken and heare thoyr fellowes yeame. 
Turberville, Booke of Hunting (ed. 1575), p. 181. 
yearn'^f (yern), i\ [Also earn ; prob. an altered 
foi'm, due to confusion with yearn^, with which 
it is generally merged, of *erm, < ME. ermen, 
grieve, vex,< AS. yrman, also ge-yrman (whence 
perhaps yearn, as distinguished from earn, like 
yean as distinguished from can), grieve, vex, < 
earm = D. G. arm = Icel. armr = Dan. Sw. arm 
= Goth. rtrH?.s, poor, miserable.] I. intrans. To 
grieve; mourn; sorrow. 
Falstaff he is dead, 
And we must yearn therefore. 
Shak., Hen. v., ii. 3. 6. 
Some of those French . . . 
Assay the English carriages to burn, 
Which to defend them scarcely bad a man. . . . 
Those yearning cries, that from the carriage came, 
His blood yet hot, more highly doth inflame. 
Drayton, Buttle of Aginconrt, St. 299. 
II. trans. To grieve ; trouble; vex. 
It yearns my heart to hear the wench misconstrued. 
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, v. 3. 
N'or care I who doth feed upon my cost; 
It yearns me not if men my garments wear. 
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 3. 26. 
Alas, poor wretch ! how it yearns my heart for him ! 
B. Jon»on, Bartholomew Fair, iv. 4. 
yearn** (yern), r. t. [A form of earti'^, simu- 
lating yearn'i, yearn"^, etc.] Same as earu'^. 
[Provincial or vulgar.] 
My due reward, the which right well I deeme 
I yearned have. Spetu-er, F. Q., VT. vii. 15. 
She couldn't afford to pay for schooling, and told me I 
must luok out and yearn my own living while I was a 
mere chick. 
Mayheiv, London Labour and London Poor, I. S97. 
yearn'* (yern), v. [A var. of earn'^, or < ME. ?e- 
erncn, < AS. geyrnan^ run together: see earn^. 
/■»«!.] Same as earn'^. 
His Honour the Duke will accept ane of our Dnnlop 
cheeses, and it sail be my faut if a better was ever yearned 
■ in Lowden. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxxix. 
yearn^* (y*^'rn), n. A dialectal (Scotch) form of 
earn^. 
Ye cliffs, the haunts of sailing yearns .' 
Bum.", On Ciipt, Matthew Henderson. 
yearnfult (yern'fiil), a. [Also yernfid, ernj'nl; 
< yearn'^ 4- -/«/.] Mournful; distressing. 
Ala, Ala, was their yrnifull note; their foode was the 
peoples alnies. Purchas, Pilgriniiigc, p. (i28. 
But, oh musicke, as in joyfnll tunes, thy mery notes I did 
borrow. 
So now lend mee thy yernfull tnnes, to ntter my sorrcw. 
Damon and Pifh., Old Plays, I. 105. (Naves.) 
yearningl (yer'ning), n. [< ME. ^ernynge; 
verbal n. of yearn'^, r.] The feeling of one who 
yearns; a strong feeling of tenderness, pity, or 
longing desire. 
All the herte festenede in the jirnynge of Ihesn ea 
turned into the fyn* nf lufe. 
Uawpide, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 2. 
