unyoke

American  

[uhn-yohk] / ʌnˈyoʊk /

verb (used with object)

unyoked, unyoking

1. to free from or as if from a yoke.

2. to part or disjoin, as by removing a yoke.

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verb (used without object)

Obsolete.

unyoked, unyoking

1. to remove a yoke.

2. to cease work.

unyoke British  

/ ʌnˈjəʊk /

verb

1. to release (an animal, etc) from a yoke

2. (tr) to set free; liberate

3. (tr) to disconnect or separate

4. archaic (intr) to cease working

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Etymology

Origin of unyoke

before 1000; Middle English unyoken, Old English ungeocian. See un- ², yoke ¹

Example Sentences

Unyoke the prisoners: tell them they are men Once more, not beasts of burden.

From Collected Poems Volume One by Noyes, Alfred

Unyoke, un-yōk′, v.t. to loose from a yoke: to disjoin.—v.i. to be loosed from a yoke, to cease work.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

But, as he was going home, one of his Oxen tired, so that he was forced to Unyoke him, that he might get him home.

From The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches by Mather, Cotton

"Unyoke the wheelers, Ezra, and let the poor creatures have their chance at the water," she cried sharply, and Ezra, dodging the horns of the frantic brutes, made shift to obey.

From Cow-Country by Bower, B. M.