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yes

[yes]
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adverb
  1. (used to express affirmation or assent or to mark the addition of something emphasizing and amplifying a previous statement): Do you want that? Yes, I do.
  2. (used to express an emphatic contradiction of a previously negative statement or command): Don't do that! Oh, yes I will!
  3. (used, usually interrogatively, to express hesitation, uncertainty, curiosity, etc.): “Yes?” he said as he opened the door. That was a marvelous show! Yes?
  4. (used to express polite or minimal interest or attention.)
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noun, plural yes·es.
  1. an affirmative reply.
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verb (used with object), yessed, yes·sing.
  1. to give an affirmative reply to; give assent or approval to.
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interjection
  1. (used as a strong expression of joy, pleasure, or approval.)
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Origin of yes

before 900; Middle English yes, yis, Old English gēse (adv. and noun), probably equivalent to gēa yea1 + sī be it (present subjunctive singular of bēon to be)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for yeses

Historical Examples

  • These yeses were accompanied by the emphatic tapping on the paper.

    The Corner House Girls Among the Gypsies

    Grace Brooks Hill

  • Thenceforward his Imperial Highness used to send Zeitz to me whenever he had any yeses or noes.

    Memoirs of the Empress Catherine II.

    Catherine II, Empress of Russia

British Dictionary definitions for yeses

yes

sentence substitute
  1. used to express acknowledgment, affirmation, consent, agreement, or approval or to answer when one is addressed
  2. used, often with interrogative intonation, to signal someone to speak or keep speaking, enter a room, or do something
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noun
  1. an answer or vote of yes
  2. (often plural) a person who votes in the affirmative
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Compare no 1

Word Origin

Old English gēse, from iā sīe may it be; see yea
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

Word Origin and History for yeses

yes

Old English gise, gese "so be it!," probably from gea, ge "so" (see yea) + si "be it!," third person imperative of beon "to be" (see be). Originally stronger than simple yea. Used in Shakespeare mainly as an answer to negative questions. Yes-man is first recorded 1912, American English.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper