▪ I. yad
obs. pa. tense of go.
| 1424 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 23 The Sheriffs..yadden up to the West Derby fen. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1193 His squiers habite he had, Whan he to the deyse yad. |
▪ II. yad
var. yaud Sc. and north. dial., mare.
▪ III. ‖ yad, n. Judaism.
(jɑːd)
[Heb. yād, lit. ‘hand’.]
A pointer, used by readers of the Torah in the synagogue to follow the text, typically having the form of a rod terminating in a hand with an outstretched index finger.
| 1903 W. Rosenau Jewish Ceremonial Inst. & Customs i. 32 Over the breast plate a pointer extends, terminating in the figure of a hand, and hence called ‘yad’ (hand). 1906 Jewish Encycl. XII. 578/1 The segan points out with the ‘yad’ the text for the reader to follow. 1961 C. Roth Jewish Art 323 In most countries..the form ultimately developed of a rod terminating in a hand with outstretched forefinger and it was accordingly, whatever its form, termed yad. 1982 T. Keneally Schindler's Ark (1983) xviii. 165 The lubrication pits were filled to spilling over with solid silver—rings, pendants, Passover platters, yad pointers, breastplates, crowns, candelabra. |