Make Your Point > Archived Issues > YOKE
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Today we're checking out one of those hardworking verbs that does double duty: yoke.
First, to yoke someone can mean to restrain them: to chain them, to control them, to constrain them.
And second, to yoke someone can also mean to burden them: to encumber them, to stress them out, to weigh them down.
See if you can recall a few other verbs that do double duty:
1. To f___ify something can mean to fake it--or, to prove that it is fake. (Did you automatically guess "fake-ify"? You've almost got it!)
2. To di___se can mean to spread out, getting weaker--or, to spread out, getting more popular.
3. To m__ce can mean to chop something into tiny pieces--or, to express disapproval in a way that's too gentle.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"YOKE"
This word comes from Old English.
Strictly speaking, a yoke is a device that fastens animals together so they can do work. (Thanks for the image, Wikipedia!)
And loosely speaking, a yoke is something that forces you down, or forces you to stay attached to something or someone else. In other words, a yoke is a restraint or a burden.
Pronunciation:
YOKE
Part of speech:
Often a verb, the transitive kind: "they yoked these together," "he's yoked to his job," "she yoked herself to this tacky stage name and now regrets it."
Also a noun, the countable kind: "they threw off the yoke of oppression," "these rules place a heavy yoke on us."
Other forms:
Here are some common ones: "yoked," "yoking," "yokes."
We've also got "yokeable," "yokeless," "yokewise" (meaning horizontally, often over both shoulders), and, for things or people who get yoked together: "yokemates" or "yokefellows." Fun, right? All are instantly understandable to your listeners, so enjoy them.
How to use it:
Thanks to its origin on the farm, "yoke" lends that simple, rustic, sometimes crude tone to the abstract restraints and burdens you're describing.
"Yoke" tends to be negative in tone, suggesting hard work, forced labor, or at least, permanent and involuntary connection.
Talk about the yoke of something: the yoke of debt, of contracts, of sanctions, of depression, of tyranny or oppression, of colonialism, of corruption, of dog ownership, of primary responsibility for your aging parents, etc.
And, talk about a yoke falling on people, settling on people, or being placed on people--or about people working or struggling under a yoke. Here's the Economist: "in the south, where [Saddam's] yoke fell heaviest."
And, talk about things, people, and ideas escaping a yoke, throwing off a yoke, liberating others from a yoke, etc.
You can also just refer to something as "the yoke." "He was sick of that demanding job, so he threw off the yoke."
Finally, you can talk about people, statements, and events that yoke certain things together, or yoke one thing to another, often in people's memories or in the public mind. Here's the New Yorker: "Disney's Fantasia yoked animation to music."
examples:
"The idea of liberating Americans from the yoke of car ownership undergirds much of Lyft's rhetoric around product development."
— Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 16 October 2018
"Most uniformed positions allow the wearers to have a separate life. Peace officers and firefighters, for instance...have barbecues for neighbors and coach their children in sports. But to be a scythe means you are a scythe every hour of every day. It defines you to the core of your being, and only in dreams is one free of the yoke."
— Neal Shusterman, Scythe, 2016
has this page helped you understand "yoke"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "yoke" without saying "restraint" or "burden."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Doing one thing) while (doing another thing) forever yoked the experiences in my mind."
Example 1: "Bicycling through the scent of crepe myrtles in the summer heat, while my heart raced and thudded and threatened to explode in the joy of falling in love, forever yoked the experiences in my mind."
Example 2: "Drinking the fruit’s juice while we look up at the volcano will forever yoke the experiences—one a memory, one a taste—in our inner registries."
— Greg Jackson, The New Yorker, 22 April 2019
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month: Anagrams!
Rearrange the letters in the given word to form a word we've studied before. Try to recall its meaning, too.
For example, if I give you DYED, you give me EDDY. If I give you THREAD, you give me DEARTH. And if I give you COTERIES, you give me ESOTERIC.
Try this one today: ASPIRATED.
Give yourself 5 points if you can figure out the word without clues. To reveal the clues, hover over the blue text below.
Give yourself 4 points if you figure it out after peeking at the part of speech: adjective.
Give yourself 3 points if you figure it out after peeking at the definition: so different from each other that they have nothing in common and cannot be meaningfully compared.
Give yourself 2 points if you figure it out after peeking at the first letter: D.
Give yourself 1 point if you figure it out after peeking at the first two letters: DI.
And if you'd like to reveal or review the word, click here.
review this word:
1. A near opposite of YOKED is
A. FREED.
B. STEERED.
C. CHANNELED.
2. Without _____, some people believe, we'd be yokeless and therefore _____.
A. curiosity .. unmotivated to learn
B. religion .. immoral and unprincipled
C. a clear goal in mind .. lazy and unproductive
a final word:
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I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Today we're checking out one of those hardworking verbs that does double duty: yoke.
"YOKE" This word comes from Old English.
And loosely speaking, a yoke is something that forces you down, or forces you to stay attached to something or someone else. In other words, a yoke is a restraint or a burden.
"The idea of liberating Americans from the yoke of car ownership undergirds much of Lyft's rhetoric around product development."
Explain the meaning of "yoke" without saying "restraint" or "burden."
Fill in the blanks: "(Doing one thing) while (doing another thing) forever yoked the experiences in my mind."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of YOKED is
|