▪ I. yeld, a. (n.) Sc. and north. dial.
(jɛld)
Forms: 1 ᵹelde, 5– yeld, 6 ȝeld, ȝeild, ȝeald, 6–9 yeild, yeeld, 7 yeell, 8–9 yell, yeald, 9 yield, yeal, yeel, yill. See also eild.
[late OE. *ᵹielde, ᵹelde (in glosses), corresp. to MLG. galt, OHG., MHG. galt (MG. gelde, gelle, G. gelt), ON. geldr (MSw. galder, etc.): cf. geld a. and v.1]
1. Of an animal: Barren; that has missed having her young, or is not old enough to bear.
| a 1100 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 226/22 Effeta, ᵹelde. Ibid. 394/26. 1411 Priory of Finchale (Surtees) 158, ix yeldbestis videlicet iiij vaccæ j stot ij quioks, ij stirketts. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. iv. 32 Enee hym self..to the, Proserpyne, A ȝeld kow all to trynschit. 1538 Reg. Privy Seal Scot. II. 386/2, xl ȝeild scheip. a 1598 D. Ferguson Scot. Prov. (1641) No. 47 A yeeld sow was never good to gryces. 1726 Fleming's Fulfilling Script. (ed. 5) Table Scots Phr., Yeald, barren or dry. 1808 Jamieson, Yeld,..3. Applied to cattle or sheep that are too young to bear, Dumfr. 1831 Sutherland Farm Rep. 79 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Yill gimmers. Ibid. 81 The yell ewes being all sorted off the herding a few days before the lambing begins. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 38 If she has never been put to the ram she gets the name of yeld-gimmer. 1886 Athenæum 30 Oct. 560/2 To shoot the yeld hinds on the 15th of October. 1897 Badminton Mag. Apr. 474 We have got altogether four bucks and a good yeld doe. |
b. Of birds: In a single state, unmated. Sc.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 388 Birdis clekkit as tha war wont till do,..No nestis maid bot all that tyme war ȝeild. 1809 A. Edmondston Zetl. Isl. II. 280 [They], not paring, are called yield kittiwakes. |
2. Of cattle: Not yielding milk, from being in calf or from age; ‘dry’. Also of a nurse.
| 1670 Contract in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1896) XXX. 20 Too tydie kay & four yeell kay. 1785 Burns Addr. to Deil x, An' dawtet, twal-pint Hawkie's gane As yell's the Bill. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scot. IX. 317 The yell cattle vary in numbers according to the seasons of the year. 1808 Jamieson, Yeld, Yeald, Yell, Eild..A cow, although with calf, is said to gang yeld, when her milk dries up. A yeld nurse signifies a dry nurse. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxix, A wild farm in Northumberland, well stocked with milk-cows, yeald beasts, and sheep. 1864 A. Leighton Myst. Leg. Edin. (1886) 8 ‘And wha will pay for the wet nurse?’ said I, ‘for ye ken I am as dry as a yeld crummie.’ |
3. Applied to inanimate objects that are sterile, unproductive, etc. (see quots.).
| 1721 Kelly Scot. Prov. 42 Any thing is better than the Yell Kail. An Apology for having little, or bad, Fleshmeat. Ibid. foot-n., Yell is properly what gives no Milk, here it signifies boil'd without Meat, or having no Butter. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. s.v. Yell, A rock is said to be yell when it will not quarry but with gunpowder; a field is said to be yell when nothing will grow on it. 1825 Jamieson, Yeld..8. Bleak, cold; applied to the weather, as denoting that it has no tendency to fruitfulness, or that it threatens sterility. |
B. n. A barren cow or ewe; a hind that is not pregnant.
| 1856 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 727. 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk., Yeld..a female deer not pregnant. |
Hence yeld (yell) v. trans., to make ‘yell’, keep from breeding.
| 1831 Sutherland Farm Rep. 81 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, That..those least fit for breeding be yelled off for sale. Ibid., The contrivance of yelling or breeching a certain number of ewes in each herding. |
▪ II. yeld
obs. form of eld n.2, age.
| a 1529 Skelton Death Edw. IV, 86 Of no great yeld. |
▪ III. yeld(e, (ȝeld(e)
var. ilde, obs. form of aisle.
| 1527 Dunmow Churchw. MS. lf. 6 b, For mendynge of lede over the new chapell and over the ȝelde on the same syde. 1535 in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 82 In makyn and byldyn of the new yeld in the ch[urch] of B[romfelde]. xls. |
▪ IV. yeld(e
obs. form of guild, yield.