yank n.1
1. a tug, a pull, a wrench.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Brownie of Bodsbeck II 18: I took up my neive an’ gae him a yank on the haffat tell I gart his bit brass cap rattle against the wa’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Americanisms 649: Yank, used as a noun and a verb, denotes the action of violently jerking or twitching a person or a thing, and in figurative meaning, a great effort of mind. | |
 | Milnor Free Press 28 Mar. 1/5: The other shoe pulled hard, and [...] Mr. Crane gave it a sudden yank [DA]. | |
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 117: He gave me two or thre yanks to shake me up. | |
| N.Y. Globe 20 Aug. 6: A fantastic proposition from Germany [...] takes one back with an unpleasant yank into the middle ages [DA]. | |
| Torchy, Private Sec. 19: Bein’ jumped from office boy to private sec, all in one afternoon, was some breath-takin’ yank. | |
| Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 24: The preacher gave a yank. | |
| ‘A Place to Lie Down’ in Texas Stories (1995) 62: The paw seized Mack’s shirt [...] with a yank which ripped the sleazy cloth down to the navel. |
2. (US) a hurry.
| ‘Death’s Passport’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 114/1: Just now I’m in a hell of a yank. | |
| ‘Coffin for a Coward’ in Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 ‘Give me homicide in a hell of a yank!’ I gurgled. |
3. an act of masturbation.
| OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 yank v., n. male masturbation; ‘Two minutes on that porn site an I was having a yank!’. |
4. (US) influence, ‘pull’.
| Bangs 399: ncle Nick Salerno, [...] longtime employee of the State House who had serious yank with the governor’s office. |