yo-yo
a spoollike toy consisting of two thick wooden, plastic, or metal disks connected by a dowel pin in the center to which a string is attached, one end being looped around the player's finger so that the toy can be spun out and reeled in by wrist motion.
something that fluctuates or moves up and down, especially suddenly or repeatedly.
Slang. a stupid, foolish, or incompetent person.
Informal. moving up and down or back and forth; fluctuating; vacillating: yo-yo prices; a yo-yo foreign policy.
Informal. to move up and down or back and forth; fluctuate or vacillate: Mortgage rates are still yo-yoing.
Informal. to cause to yo-yo.
Origin of yo-yo
1Words Nearby yo-yo
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use yo-yo in a sentence
Garrett discusses being stop-lossed, which is a psychological yo-yo that really screwed him up.
Soledad O'Brien's Next Chapter: 'The War Comes Home,' Her CNN Departure, and the State of News | Marlow Stern | August 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI had to send it to the federal treasury because someone yo-yo scratched out their name on it.
There were these Japanese yo-yo experts who used to do exhibitions at the Woolworth.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview | Alex Belth | February 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOh, for the good old days when Roy Acuff taught Richard Nixon how to use a yo-yo on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.
Vince Gill Confronts Fringe Groups and Gives Country Some Cred | Malcolm Jones | September 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTPaul Dang shows off his incredible yo-yo skills and—perhaps more impressively—rocks a sweet baby blue jacket.
Mayor Bloomberg, Chris Christie, Anderson Cooper and More Viral Videos | The Daily Beast Video | July 7, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Then the yo-yo blew up, very quietly, as things do where there is no air to carry shock-and sound-waves, but very brilliantly.
Space Viking | Henry Beam PiperThat's pretty hard to keep track of, because I was like a yo-yo, back and forth from one parent to the other.
Warren Commission (8 of 26): Hearings Vol. VIII (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President KennedyBu-bu-bu-but wh-wh-what wo-wo-would th-th-the re-re-reb be-be-been do-do-doing; yo-yo-you in-in-infernal blockhead!
A Boy Trooper With Sheridan | Stanton P. Allen“Gabbi, gabbi,” said the dwarf, greatly excited; and when we turned towards it “yo-yo-yo” in approval.
Spinifex and Sand | David W Carnegie"I d—d—d—do promise, if—yo—yo—yo—you—don't—duc—" and in he went again.
The Humors of Falconbridge | Jonathan F. Kelley
British Dictionary definitions for yo-yo
/ (ˈjəʊjəʊ) /
a toy consisting of a spool attached to a string, the end of which is held while it is repeatedly spun out and reeled in
US and Canadian slang a stupid person, esp one who is easily manipulated
informal to change repeatedly from one position to another; fluctuate
informal changing repeatedly; fluctuating
Origin of yo-yo
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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