▪ I. † yean, n. Obs.
Also 5 ȝeeene, ȝe(e)ne, yene, e(e)ne, yn.
[app. f. next.]
A young lamb, yeanling.
| 1408 Wycl. Bible Ps. cxliii. 13 (MS. Fairf. 2) Þe sheep of hem ben wþ ȝeeene [v.rr. ȝene, ȝeene, ene, eene, yn]. Ibid. Isa. xl. 11 He shal bere sheep wiþ eene eþer wþ lombe [v.rr. yene, ene]. |
| a 1650 in J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agriculture & Prices (1887) V. 341 [Besides the general names of sheep, ewes, rams, wethers or muttons, and lambs, I find tups, tegs, yeans,..crones and hoggs]. |
▪ II. yean, v. Now arch. and dial.
(jiːn)
Forms: 4 ȝene, 6 yene, 6–7 yeane, 6– yean.
[? OE. *ᵹeéanian, related to ᵹeéan ‘feta’, pregnant: see y- and ean v.]
1. trans. Of a ewe: To bring forth (a lamb); also said of goats and occas. other beasts.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 303 Alle þe splekked lamberne and kedes þat schulden be i-ȝened. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. (1811) 368 A lambe was yenyd, hauynge .ii. perfyte bodyes. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §37 An ewe goth with lambe .xx. wekes, and shall yeane her lambe in the .xxi. weke. 1605 Willet Hexapla Gen. 319 There is a riuer in Assyria..which causeth the sheepe that drinke thereof to yeane blacke lambes. 1644 Quarles Sheph. Orac. vii, They'l conspire To yeane their jolly lambs within thy cot. 1759 R. Brown Compl. Farmer 32 The ewes yean the polled lamb with the least danger. 1800 Wordsw. Pet Lamb 39 The dam that did thee yean Upon the mountain⁓tops. 1806 Southey in Ann. Rev. IV. 51 To record the day and hour when a sheep died, a lamb was yeaned, or one of the flock stolen. 1862 Trench Poems, Vis. Tusculum 15 Watching the white goats..their young Tending, new yeaned. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxiv. 154 What grim lioness yeaned thee, aneath what rock's desolation? |
b. fig. To produce, give birth to.
| 1598 Marston Sco. of Villanie vi. 39 Yon's one hath yean'd a fearefull prodigie. 1847 Emerson Poems, Wood Notes 11, Trenchant time behoves to hurry All to yean and all to bury. |
2. intr. To bring forth young, as a sheep.
| 1548 Elyot, Adasia, an olde yewe, whiche hath lately yeaned or had a lambe. 1565 Stapleton Fortr. Faith 99 Like an ewe when she is yeaning and wringeth for deliueraunce. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 73 Eawes readie to yeane craues ground rid cleane. 1615 Sylvester Job Triumph. iv. 478 The time when mountain Goats and Hinds Do yean and calve. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 22 To see a woman calve, or a cow yean. 1794 T. Davis Agric. Wilts 17 By the time all the ewes have yeaned. 1835 Thirlwall Greece vi. I. 212 The ewes yean twice a year. 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 232 The ewes yean in a yard or standing pen. 1879 Butcher & Lang Odyssey 51 The ewes yean thrice within the full circle of a year. |
Hence yeaned ppl. a., ˈyeaning vbl. n. (also attrib.) and ppl. a.
| 1567–1849 [see new-yeaned ppl. a.]. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 253 His eawes to haue good yeaning. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 139 The shepeheard must be as careful as a midwife in the yeaning time. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 258 Within thirteen months she brought 7 Lambs at three yeanings. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 751 The yeaning Ewes prevent the springing Year. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 309 The she bear takes an old large hollow tree for her yeaning winter-house. 1776 Complete Grazier (ed. 4) xxvi. 144 It is necessary she [sc. a ewe] should at her yeaning have the benefit of springing grass. 1866 Copley Agric. ix. xvi. 487 Late yeaned lambs..are generally delicate. |
▪ III. yean(e
obs. forms of yawn.