unyoke
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free from or as if from a yoke.
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to part or disjoin, as by removing a yoke.
verb (used without object)
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to remove a yoke.
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to cease work.
verb
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to release (an animal, etc) from a yoke
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(tr) to set free; liberate
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(tr) to disconnect or separate
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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:
Then he proceeded to unyoke the four beasts from the other man's wagon and yoked them to his own.
From The Killer by Stewart Edward White
"I will unyoke the mare and give her a share of oats in the stable."
From Waysiders by Seumas O'Kelly
Thou who keep'st us chaste and free As the young spring: Ever be thy honour spoke, From that place the morn is broke, To that place day doth unyoke!
From English Songs and Ballads by T. W. H. (Thomas William Hodgson) Crosland
His father and mother laugh heartily as he disappears round the corner of the house to unyoke the horses.
From Round the Wonderful World by A. S. (Archibald Stevenson) Forrest
Until that is answered, as one grave-digger says to the other in "Hamlet," I shall say: 'Ay, tell me that and unyoke.'
From Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I Including His Answers to the Clergy, His Oration at His Brother's Grave, Etc., Etc. by Robert Green Ingersoll
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
But in the evening it turns out that the ox is unyoked, while the calf is butchered.
From The Moral Instruction of Children by Felix Adler
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
The man, a gaunt and grizzled creature, with long hair and ragged beard, was unyoking his oxen, while the woman bent over the fire which crackled beneath her hands.
From The Emigrant Trail by Geraldine Bonner
Then, immediately unyoking the tired oxen, we hurried to the fountain-head to obtain water, while they rushed to a pool close below it, where they could more easily drink.
From Afar in the Forest by William H. C. Groome
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
No less could be found here the political speculations which were later to aid the colonists in unyoking themselves from England.
From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Chester E. Jorgenson
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.
