▪ I. yah, int.1 (and n.)
(jɑː)
Also ya, yar.
[Echoic.]
An exclamation of disgust, aversion, or malicious defiance. Also used loosely as a vague or meaningless exclamation.
| 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Rebuilding v, While shout and scoff, Ya! ya! off! off! Like thunderbolt on Surya's ear-drum fell. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop lxii, ‘A very excellent lodger, sir. I hope we may not lose him.’ ‘Yah!’ cried the dwarf. ‘Never thinking of anybody but yourself.’ 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. iv, He turned to bay..and bit the professor's finger till it bled. ‘Oh! ah! yah!’ cried he. Ibid. v, ‘Yar!’..‘you little meddlesome wretch.’ 1863 Reade Hard Cash xi, ‘What him mean? what him mean? Yah! yah!’ 1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey xxxvi, Gerrard, with a ‘yah!’ of repulsion, dropped the thing. 1890 Henty With Lee in Virg. 299 ‘Yah!’ the old man shouted. ‘Do you suppose we are going to give in to five men?’ |
Hence yah v. intr., to shout ‘yah!’ nonce-wd.
| 1904 Sat. Rev. 23 Jan. 101 Yahing at Russia and cheering the ‘brave little Japs’. |
▪ II. yah, int.2
Repeated, yah! yah!, denoting a perverted or affected pronunciation of ‘hear! hear!’
| 1886 H. W. Lucy Diary Gladstone Parlt. 349 There are cheers of various kinds. There is Mr. Alderman Fowler's deep-chested ‘Yah, yah, yah!’ 1887 Punch 21 Mar. 132/1, I used to call out Yah! yah! as I do in House of Commons. |
▪ III. yah, adv.
(jɑː, ja)
Dialectal for ‘yea’ or ‘yes’; or in representations of Ger. or Du. speech. Cf. the earlier yaw adv.
| 1863 A. J. Munby Diary 20 Aug. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 170 ‘Dus Jaan Brahn work here?’ ‘Yah!’ said some of the maidens: ‘Aye!’ said others. 1889 Rider Haggard Allan's Wife iv, ‘Yah! yah! hold a light’, put in one of the Boers. 1899 Daily News 5 Apr. 5/1 ‘Yah,’ which the rustics of the Peak frequently use for ‘Yes,’ and which they employed exclusively thirty years ago. 1905 Ibid. 23 May 4/7 America..has two substitutes for ‘yes.’ One of them is ‘yep’ and the other is ‘yah.’ |
▸ Brit. Also yar. In representations of upper-class English speech: yes. Cf. OK yah int.
| 1887 Alma Mater (Aberdeen) 23 Nov. 14/1 Distinguished Cetaceasectionist calling Roll: ‘Mr. Sutherland.’ Answer from son of the south: ‘Y-ah.’ D.C.: ‘You are not Mr. Sutherland, but you come from a Suther(n)land.’ 1982 Times 22 Apr. 14/1 You pop down Knightsbridge way and listen to the upper crust, and they're doing exactly the same..a series of Yah and What, Ha and Oh. 1986 Sunday Tel. 9 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 23/1 ‘Can I tempt you with a crouton?’ ‘Yar, absolutely.’ 1999 J. Poller Reach viii. 18 Yah, I agree. Hugo's biff. |
▸ n. Also with capital initial. Brit. slang. A person characterized as frequently using the interjection ‘yah’; (hence) a (usually young) upper-class English person; cf. Sloane Ranger n. and adj.
| 1985 Times 29 June 30/3 It is the story of a sheltered Yorkshire lad's confrontation with the Yahs. 1988 Guardian (Nexis) 2 Sept. Although the ‘Yahs’ at Edinburgh and St Andrews may be able to rely on Daddy for financial security, many Scottish students are not so fortunate. 1991D. Simmonds in S. Ewen et al. Consumption, Identity & Style (BNC) 125 A major style point can be seen in the daywear of the young (24-year-old) yah female. 2000 M. Barrowcliffe Girlfriend 44 xiv. 381, I saw myself leaving the braying wannabes and half successful yahs of Fulham for somewhere I'd feel more at home. |