unyoke
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to free from or as if from a yoke.
-
to part or disjoin, as by removing a yoke.
verb (used without object)
-
to remove a yoke.
-
to cease work.
verb
-
to release (an animal, etc) from a yoke
-
(tr) to set free; liberate
-
(tr) to disconnect or separate
-
archaic (intr) to cease working
Etymology
Origin of unyoke
before 1000; Middle English unyoken, Old English ungeocian. See un- 2, yoke 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"There's one thing you can do, and that's to unyoke the beast and hobble it, and then strike for Taylor's on your feet," he advised.
From A Prairie Courtship by Harold Bindloss
If we do not unyoke it, the ox will die of hunger.
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 06 (From Barbarossa to Dante) by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne
In this capacity they assist every morning in yoking the celestial horses to the glorious chariot of the sun, which they again help to unyoke when he sinks to rest.
From Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens
"They have smelt the water; it is not far off, sir," said Bremen; "we had better unyoke them all, and let them go."
From The Mission by Frederick Marryat
"It won't bear much looking at; we had better unyoke," he said.
From Ranching for Sylvia by Harold Bindloss
In the chaotic tangle of dust, horseflesh and steel, finding an unexpected advantage was not difficult for those unyoked from scruple.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2024
More specifically, a female third party, unyoked from ego.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
Although the Egyptians showed no particular desire to be unyoked, the Egyptian Cabinet neither declared war against Italy nor prepared its armed forces for action.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then he unyoked the bullocks and led them to the small pool of water near which we had stopped, giving them each a handful of hay.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
He gathered them round him when the horses had been unyoked and tethered.
From A Prairie Courtship by Harold Bindloss
This was a common adage for giving over or ceasing to do a thing; a metaphor derived from the unyoking of oxen at the end of their labor.
From Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer
After unhitching them from the wagon and unyoking the animals, so they could feed in the meantime, the oil lamps were taken out and carefully examined.
From The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island by Roger Thompson Finlay
It was now too late to turn back; so, unyoking the oxen,64 they proceeded to lower the wagons down into the valley by hand, using chains and ropes.
From Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania by Jewett Castello Gilson
Mr. Clifford and Meyer rose to return to the waggon in order to superintend the unyoking of the oxen and to give directions as to their herding, and the off-saddling of the horses.
From Benita, an African romance by Henry Rider Haggard
But he tried not to show it, and while the men were unyoking the oxen, which immediately began to graze on the rich, succulent grass, Nic proceeded to unchain the dogs.
From First in the Field A Story of New South Wales by L. Rahey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
