yank v.1
1. to drag, to pull.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Dict. Americanisms. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | despatch to Neue Oder-Zeitung 9 Feb. in Wheen Karl Marx (1999) n.p.: The constabulary [...] began to beat up people’s heads until the blood ran profusely, yanked individuals here and there out of the vast multitude [...] and dragged them to the improvised blockhouses. | |
| A Visit to Nantucket in (1872) 649: He yanked and yanked, but the sapling wouldn’t come, and thar he was caught in his own trap. | |
| Golden Butterfly III 209: Get John, and yank them both to bed. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Oct. 9/3: All the other clerks [...] ‘yank’ him half-way home. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 199: Mr. Bull just yanked out a gun as long as your arm. | |
| ‘A Day on a Selection’ in Roderick (1972) 43: The youngster cautiously takes hold of the least sore teat [and] yanks it suddenly. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 30 Nov. 1/6: The ‘Kenso’ stewards yanked Lawler [...] out for 12 moons. | |
| Magnet 29 Feb. 2: He doesn’t want to yank him off by the ears! | |
| Firefly 9 Dec. 1: Last week I had all the furniture yanked out of my flat. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 406: Alexander J. Christ Dowie, that’s yanked to glory most half this planet from Frisco Beach to Vladivostock. | |
| Call It Sleep (1977) 148: She yanked David towards their landmark. | |
| Really the Blues 6: The cop yanked his .38 out. | |
| Always Leave ’Em Dying 103: I had to start shaking his follower’s faith in his magnificence, had to yank off the halo that Trammelites thought their master wore. | |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn 31: Harry asked her if she wanted him to yank the knife out. | |
| Plender [ebook] ‘Yanked me out of my seat by the scruff of my neck’. | |
| (con. 1960s) Wanderers 58: Yanking the bag over his shoulder he tramped into the dinette. | |
| London Embassy 83: I thought he was going to yank his ear off. | |
| Guardian 24 July 27: The latecomer would be yanked aboard by fellow passengers. | |
| Experience 362: Todd Berman had just yanked out a molar in my underjaw. | |
| Chicken (2003) 9: I try to yank away, but I can’t move. | |
| Rolling Stone 14 Oct. 🌐 They were free to yank support from Trump if they thought it would help them win in November. | |
| Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 16: Of course the COs tried to yank her out before her toilette. | |
| Man-Eating Typewriter 313: [E]ventually yank-yanking their ankles. |
2. (US) to hang.
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Jan. 2/3: An old man [...] shoots and kills a boy [...] That old man will be yanked instanter. |
3. to arrest.
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 15 Mar. 7/2: [headline] The Davis-Reese Mill Raided [...] [pic. caption] The Whole Crowd Yanked. | |
| Tramping with Tramps 280: The bulls around here don’t care to yank a tramp unless they have to. | |
| Grand Central Winter (1999) 120: The cops at Port Authority yanked him. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Gutted 30: Facing a ten-stretch for counterfeiting [...] Ralph Lauren shirts. He was yanked with a warehouse full of them. |
4. (US) to victimize, to harass, to dupe; thus yanking n.
| ‘The Ethics of Pig’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 228: I had been counting on yanking the yeomen for two hundred at least. | |
| White Light Nights 8: The crudest sort of ‘yokel yanking’ in New York is done by the itinerant fur salesmen. [...] They palm off five-dollar furs for thirty dollars. |
5. to masturbate; usu. in phrs. below; thus yanking n.
| ‘The Four Wives’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 26: Old airmen never die, / They yank themselves away. | |
| San Diego Sailor 8: It finally got so I’d have to yank every so often to get rid of my load. | |
| Faggots 96: [He] yanked his full-grown penis to a gigantically pleasurable orgasm. | |
| Cartoon City 41: Just kissing and a spot of groping, followed by some yanking and a bit of caressing. |
6. to remove.
| What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 92: If they yanked his favorite scene they could take his name off the picture. | |
| ‘The Beatings’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 135: I thought your license had been yanked. | |
| (con. WWII) Deathmakers 197: No shit, Captain, don’t you think you could yank her ass out of my tank? | |
| Tourist Season (1987) 27: If I’d been here that morning, I’d have yanked that column. | |
| ‘Sunset’ in Broken 213: Shit, if the cops found someone [...] with a shooting kit, they could yank Shafe’s liquor license. |
7. (US campus, also yoink) to steal.
| Campus Sl. Apr. 4: gank – steal [...] Also yank. | |
| Hope College ‘Dict. of New Terms’ 🌐 yoink v. tr. To take something from someone else, or from someone else’s territory. | |
| Campus Sl. Fall 4: GANK – steal something; borrow temporarily [...] Also YANK, YOINK. |
In phrases
to earn, to win money; thus yank-down n., a profit, a commission .
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 83: I’d yanked down $2,000 on Long Bridge’s win. [Ibid.] 388: My yank-down was eighty dollars. | |
| More Ex-Tank Tales 130: A little yank-down I made out in Illinois. |
to masturbate.
| Transcript Foster Inq. in Perverts by Official Order (1989) 54: I might have what they call, yanked someone off . . . | |
| Speed3 (penultimate draft) in Father Ted (1999) 292/2: I’m having to yank meself off round the clock ’cause I’m not getting any proper sex with girls [OED]. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Number One Adult Sexual Health Terms Advisor 🌐 Masturbation Slang Male Terms: [...] yank off or yank the crank/plank/yoyo. |
(US) to masturbate.
| in Zappa ‘Punky’s Whips’ 🎵 Why, maybe he’d like to yank my crank? / YANK IT PUNKY! YANK IT FASTER! / YANK IT HARDER! | |
| Prison Sl. 63: Yankin’ the Crank Masturbation. (Archaic: snap the whip). | |
| Money Shot [ebook] Porn pros don’t bat an eye at the sight of six guys standing around yanking their cranks. | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 73: ‘I’d die if some fat Shriner yanked his crank while he watched’. |
to masturbate.
| (con. 1970s) King Suckerman (1998) 76: It was all he could do to get himself soaped up [...] without reaching down to yank his meat. |
to irritate someone, to annoy someone, to remind or distract someone forcibly.
| Vice Cop 182: I could not resist yanking this guy’s chain one more time. | |
| Llama Parlour 41: ‘Are you yankin’ my chain?’ she snapped. | |
| Dreamcatcher 583: Continue to yank my crank, soldier, and I will put a bullet in you. | |
| Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 27: Don’t focking yank my chain, dude. |
(US prison) to confront a fellow-inmate with a secret they do not wish to be revealed.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Yanked His Coat (or Jacket): Finding out and confronting another prisoner with something he or she may be hiding. Also, ‘Jam.’. |
to masturbate.
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: yank the plank euph. To spank your plank. | |
| Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘What was all the hollering about? You yank your plank too hard?‘. |
to bring up or educate a child roughly, without controls, manners or discipline.
| Gangster Girl 20: I was yanked up the same way. |