▪ I. yak
(jæk, jɑːk)
[a. Tibetan γyag (Jäschke).]
a. A bovine animal (Bos grunniens), found wild and domesticated in Tibet and other high regions of central Asia, having the body and tail covered with long silky hair, which is made into various fabrics; the tails are used for decoration, and in India as fly-flappers (see chowry).
| 1795 Asiatick Res. IV. 351 The Yak of Tartary..is about the heighth of an English bull. 1799 S. Turner Embassy Tibet (1800) 186 The black chowry-tailed cattle..the Yak of Tartary. 1862 Torrens Trav. Tartary etc. 125 The oxen mostly used in Ladak are hybrids between the yâk and the common cow. 1893 Dunmore Pamirs I. 246, I remounted my yak. 1903 Athenæum 1 Aug. 163/1 Only in the valleys does scanty scrub give sustenance to the yaks, on whose services the travellers depended. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
yak corps,
yak-hair,
yak-herd,
yak-tail;
yak butter, butter made from the milk of the yak;
yak lace, a heavy kind of lace made from the hair of the yak.
| 1962 L. Davidson Rose of Tibet v. 87 He had bought tea bricks..and a large cake of *yak butter. 1980 Times 12 Aug. 10/1 Crowds file through the little shrine rooms lit by flickering lamps of yak butter. |
| 1904 Times 18 Jan. 5/6 The transport difficulties are still enormous, though the *Yak Corps is working well. |
| 1905 E. Candler Unveiling of Lhasa xiv. 268 A heavy curtain of *yak-hair hangs above the entrance-gate. |
| 1958 Illustr. London News 13 Dec. 1041/1 Greatest of all the village-festivals was the Dumje, celebrated in early July, before the villagers dispersed with their *yak-herds to the high pastures. |
| 1872 Young Englishwoman Nov. 606/1 The trimming consists of a narrow passementrie border and black *yak lace. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 525 Yak Lace..is a coarse Pillow Lace, made in Buckinghamshire and Northampton... The material used is from the fine wool of the Yak. |
| 1902 Q. Rev. July 42 Strange gifts from the East..*yak-tails and peacock feathers. |
▪ II. yak obs. Sc. f. ache v.;
dial. f. oak.
▪ III. yak var. yack n., v.