unyoke

[uhn-yohk]

verb (used with object), un·yoked, un·yok·ing.

to free from or as if from a yoke.
to part or disjoin, as by removing a yoke.

verb (used without object), un·yoked, un·yok·ing. Obsolete.

to remove a yoke.
to cease work.

Origin of unyoke

before 1000; Middle English unyoken, Old English ungeocian. See un-², yoke¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for unyoke

Historical Examples of unyoke

"Yes, but if you unyoke here you will never catch them again," he said.
Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail
Ezra Meeker
Let us unyoke it from tradition, which claims to be superior, or even equal.
The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882
Joseph Wild
It will take us a good hour to arrive there, and then we will unyoke the oxen.
The Mission; or Scenes in Africa
Captain Frederick Marryat
After that, let your men rest their poor knees and unyoke your pair of oxen.
Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
Homer and Hesiod
Then he proceeded to unyoke the four beasts from the other man's wagon and yoked them to his own.
The Killer
Stewart Edward White

British Dictionary definitions for unyoke

unyoke

verb

to release (an animal, etc) from a yoke
(tr) to set free; liberate
(tr) to disconnect or separate
(intr) archaic to cease working

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012