Y /wai/ noun, abbr.
mnoun (also y) {pi. Ys, Y’s, y’s /waiz/) 1 [C, U] the 25 th letter of the English
alphabet 25 A
f : ‘Year’ begins with
(a) Y/‘Y.
* year yjf
%i'c 2 [U] (mathematics
W) used to represent a number whose value is not mentioned ( ft; ^!g A'ftl
f!( ) • Can the value of y be predicted from the value of x? fts/A x ft
gift] y {t®5r? 3 [U] a person, a number, an influence, etc. that is not known
or not named MftlHAA ( MWl. B»m ) ; AftilttA ( j£it mm u Let’s suppose
X knows what Y is doing. fliig X ft] if Y lL:.
f¥. “f f {• A 0
—
see also Y chromosome, Y-fronts mabbr. the Y (NAmE, informal)
YMCA, YWCA
A;
-y suffix 1 (also -ey) (in adjectives j&J JA® I? i«l) full of; having the
quality of #'14 : dusty
0 clayey 2 (in adjectives faM^WisI)
tending to W ■ • • if
fft : runny
rkff&g W
0 sticky |£14 3 (in nouns
faj&^is]) the action or process of fft (■ icfti # j : inquiry
i^J |ftj 4 (also -ie) (in nouns, showing
affection fa%is}, ^AIIM): doggy A o daddy
ya /ja/ pron., det. (informal,
non-standard) used in writing as a way of showing the way people
sometimes pronounce the word ‘you’ or ‘your’ f/ft, ( A -i N-
,
AX P in you lA your ) : He said, ‘I
got something for ya.’ jlift:
yaar
/ja:;
NAmE ja:r/ noun {IndE, informal) (used as a friendly way of
addressing sb) a friend ( M fft A if # Df ) 30 A, kit: Let’s
go for a drink, yaar! fllfflAI- - ffaE, IHA!
yacht /jot;
NAmE ja:t/ {NAmE also sail-boat) noun a large sailing boat,
often also with an engine and a place to sleep on board, used for pleasure
trips and racing iWJ&; WM; faH: ayachtclub/race / tfcfjf
0 a motor yacht 0 ft M 0 a luxury yacht
—
picture o page R4
— compare dinghy(I)
yacht ing /'jntirj; NAmE 'ja:t-/ noun
[u] the sport or activity
of sailing or racing yachts fafe ( jA'EJIp
) iszjJj yachts
man /'jntsman;
NAmE 'ja:t-/, yachts woman /'jutswuman; NAmE 'ja:t-/ noun
{pi. -men
/-man/,
-women
/-wimm/)
a person who sails a yacht for pleasure or as a sport if flg (
^cfaflg ) WJl&tfc#
a round-the-world
yachtsman %9$WHSft
yada
yada yada (also
yadda yadda yadda) /jaeda jaeda 'jaeda/ exclamation
{NAmE, informal) used when you are talking about sth to show that some of
the details are not worth saying because they are not important or are boring
or obvious ; in jfcfc IK: His new girlfriend is attractive, funny,
smart, yada yada yada. fife ftj
mm, mm.
yah
/ja:/
exclamation 1 a
way of writing ‘yes’
to
show that the speaker has an upper-class accent H, ftp ( A AIM'S!, AXff?±Eft APyes ) 2 used to show that you have a low opinion
of sb/sth (A/HiffftfK ) W, fjk: Yah, you missed! (fl,
f/M/SMTfa! yahoo /'ja:hu:; ja'hu:/ noun,
exclamation mnoun {pi. 00s) (disapproving)
a rude, noisy or violent person®A: ffSA
■
exclamation /ja:'hu:; jae'hu:/ (informal)
used to show that
you are very happy ( ) PnPn, P|Pn: Yahoo,
we did it! mps, mnmffiTi
Yah-weh /'ja:wei/ noun - Jehovah yak /jaek/ noun, verb
■
noun an animal of the cow family, with long horns and long
hair, that lives in central
■
verb (also yack) (-kk-) [V] {informal, often disapproving) to
talk continuously about
things that are not very serious or important itk % 'dc T itfe i& S
A M : She just kept
yakking on.
MRJi-'AStlitMMiffiilto
yakka /'jaeka/
noun [u] {AustralE, NZE, informal) work, especially of a
hard physical kind X fft ; ■.
hard yakka
y’all
/jo:l/ pron. = you-all
yam /jaem/
noun [C, U] the large root
of a tropical plant that is cooked as a vegetable U H; lLi ^ — picture o page
R18
yang /jaeq/
noun [U] (from Chinese) (in Chinese philosophy)
the bright active male principle of the universe ( tiff ) PB —compare yin Yank /jaerjk/ (also Yan-kee) noun {BrE, informal, often disapproving) a slightly offensive
word for a person from the
yank /jaerjk/
verb [usually +adv./prep.] {informal) to pull sth/sb hard,
quickly and suddenly [VN] He
yanked her to her feet, ftfe—0 [VN-ADJ] I
yanked the door open. Me M Jtil tE fM tA Jf:0 0 [V] Liz yanked at
my arm. „ ►yanknour?:
She gave the rope a yank.
Yan-kee
/'jaerjki/
noun 1 {NAmE) a person who comes
from or lives in any of the northern states of the
A
2 a soldier who fought for the Union (= the northern states) in the
American Civil War ( H gj |^j ) Jtvr-±K-
3 {BrE,
informal) = Yank yap /jaep/ verb (-pp-) [V] 1 ~ (at sb/sth) (especially of small
dogs A % /Jv W) to bark a lot, making a high, sharp
and usually irritating sound ^ m : The dogs yapped at his heels. Jl X gg
^ it Is ffi X ?£ fL n.f 0 0 yapping dogs R1! Ml 2 {informal) to talk in a silly,
noisy and usually irritating way Pi Pi R| 1© ilt
►yap noun
yard <Hr /ja:d; NAmE
ja:rd/ noun 1 (BrE) an area outside a
building, usually with a hard surface and a surrounding wall : the prison
yard iHIo The children were
playing in the yard at the front of the school.
—
see also backyard 2 {NAmE) = garden n.{l) —see also backyard —picture o page R24 3 (usually in
compounds Jin'il) an area of land
used for a
special purpose or business ( ) KM,
a boat yard 111313 You will find other
compounds ending in yard at their place in the alphabet. ^ jife
IU yard o note
at
factory 4 {abbr. yd) a unit for measuring
length, equal to 3 feet (36 inches) or 0.9144 of a metre $9/ ( A ff 3 0.9144 A ) 5 {technical Aif) a
long
piece of wood fastened to a mast that
supports a sail on a boat or ship Wftr ITTfTTI see
inch n., nine yard-age
/'ja:did3; NAmE 'ja:rd-/ noun [C, U] {technical A if) 1 size
measured in yards or square yards f2-
fmWi 2 (in American football ife.A/ilMc) the
number of yards that a team or player has moved forward ( M
yard-arm
/'ja:da:m;
NAmE 'ja:rda:rm/ noun {technical A if) either end of
the long piece of wood fastened to a ship’s mast that supports a sail Yardie /'ja:di; NAmE 'ja:rdi/ noun {BrE, informal) (in the UK) a member
of a group of criminals from Jamaica or the West Indies ( M
'yard
sale noun
{NAmE) a sale of things from
sb’s house, held in their yard ff-) — see also garage sale yard-stick /'ja:dstik; NAmE 'ja:rd-/ noun 1 {especially NAmE) a ruler for measuring
one yard U R 2 a standard used for judging how good or successful sth is
( a yardstick by which
to measure sth 0 Exam
results are not
the only yardstick of a
school’s performance. #iiD£f^X
yar mulke (also yar-mulka) /'jamiulka; NAmE 'ja:rm-/ (also kip pa) noun a small round cap worn
on top of the head by Jewish men; a type of skullcap ( A M A