Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A Middle English form of yark.
  • noun A sudden or quick thrust or motion; a kick; a smart stroke; a blow. Also yark.
  • To lash; strike smartly; beat; hence, to rouse; excite.
  • To throw, thrust, or pull sharply or suddenly; jerk; move with a jerk.
  • To bind or tie tightly or with a jerk.
  • To lash out, as a horse; kick.
  • To move with sudden jerks; jerk.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To throw or thrust with a sudden, smart movement; to kick or strike suddenly; to jerk.
  • transitive verb Obs. or Scot. To strike or lash with a whip.
  • noun A sudden or quick thrust or motion; a jerk.
  • intransitive verb To throw out the heels; to kick; to jerk.
  • intransitive verb To move a quick, jerking motion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic to stab.
  • noun archaic A sudden or quick thrust or motion; a jerk.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • He will keep his sorrows to himself, but the recollection of them will make him "yerk," _i. e._, writhe, or start with pain -- applied in

    The Proverbs of Scotland Alexander Hislop 1836

  • At which I broke through my rule never to lift my fist to the bairn, and gave him such a yerk in the cheek with the loof of my hand, as made, I am sure, his lugs ring, and sent him dozing to the door like a peerie.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction Various 1909

  • Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and speak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.

    Puck of Pook's Hill Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and speak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.

    Puck of Pook’s Hill Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Baglione and Oddi kissed each other; all feuds were stayed; a man might climb the black alleys of a night without any fear of a knife to yerk him

    Earthwork out of Tuscany Being Impressions and Translations of Maurice Hewlett Maurice Hewlett 1892

  • I pull, I twis ', I yerk at dem jacket;' e yent come.

    Nights With Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris 1878

  • I say me pray 'pon da' jacket; 'e is bin-a yerk loose; da' sleef 'e do tu'n.

    Nights With Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris 1878

  • I pull, I twis ', I yerk at dem jacket;' e yent come.

    Nights With Uncle Remus Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation Joel Chandler Harris 1878

  • I say me pray 'pon da' jacket; 'e is bin-a yerk loose; da' sleef 'e do tu'n.

    Nights With Uncle Remus Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation Joel Chandler Harris 1878

  • Nachnataryan yerk (Pagan chant) 1994 - Romantic Songs (192 kbps) 01.

    Нонейм 2009

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