yankee

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: Yan=kee

CIDE DICTIONARY

yankee, n. [Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon (“Hist. of the Amer. War,” ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant excellent; as, a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow-yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.].

 A nickname for a native or citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States.  [1913 Webster]
"From meanness first this Portsmouth Yankey rose,
And still to meanness all his conduct flows."  [1913 Webster]

yankee, a. 

 Of or pertaining to a Yankee; characteristic of the Yankees.  [1913 Webster]
"The alertness of the Yankee aspect."  [1913 Webster]

Yankee clover. (Bot.) See Japan clover, under Japan.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

yankee, n. colloq.
1 often derog. = YANK.
2 US an inhabitant of New England or one of the northern States.
3 hist. a Federal soldier in the Civil War.
4 a type of bet on four or more horses to win (or be placed) in different races.
5 (attrib.) of or as of the Yankees.

Idiom

Yankee Doodle
1 an American tune and song regarded as a national air.
2 = YANKEE.

Etymology

18th c.: orig. uncert.: perh. f. Du. Janke dimin. of Jan John attested (17th c.) as a nickname

DEVIL DICTIONARY

yankee

n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMNYANK.)

THESAURUS

yankee

Acadian, Anglo-Indian, Bolshevik, Bolshevist, Bolshie, Brooklynese, Cajun, Canadian French, Carbonarist, Carbonaro, Castroist, Castroite, Charley, Cockney, Communist, Cong, Down-Easter Yankee, Easterner, Fenian, French Canadian, Guevarist, Gullah, Jacobin, Leninist, Maoist, Marxist, Mau-Mau, Midland, Midland dialect, New England dialect, New Englander, Northener, Northman, Pennsylvania Dutch, Puritan, Red, Red Republican, Roundhead, Sinn Feiner, Trotskyist, Trotskyite, VC, Vietcong, Westerner, Yankee Doodle, Yorkshire, anarch, anarchist, bonnet rouge, bundle of isoglosses, class dialect, criminal syndicalist, dialect, dialect atlas, dialect dictionary, eastlander, idiom, isogloss, linguistic atlas, linguistic community, linguistic island, local dialect, localism, northlander, patois, provincialism, rebel, red, regional accent, regionalism, revolutionary, revolutionary junta, revolutioner, revolutionist, revolutionizer, sans-culotte, sans-culottist, southlander, speech community, subdialect, subversive, syndicalist, terrorist, westlander

ROGET THESAURUS

yankee

Cunning

N cunning, craft, cunningness, craftiness, subtlety, artificiality, maneuvering, temporization, circumvention, chicane, chicanery, sharp practice, knavery, jugglery, concealment, guile, doubling, duplicity, foul play, diplomacy, politics, Machiavelism, jobbery, backstairs influence, art, artifice, device, machination, plot, maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile, trick, trickery, ruse, ruse de guerre, finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion, white lie, juggle, tour de force, tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers, espieglerie, net, trap, Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard, Scotchman, Jew, Yankee, intriguer, intrigant, floater, Indian giver, keener, repeater, cunning, crafty, artful, skillful, subtle, feline, vulpine, cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent, deep, deep laid, profound, designing, contriving, intriguing, strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving, artificial, tricky, tricksy, wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy, underhand, subdolous, deceitful, slippery as an eel, evasive, crooked, arch, pawky, shrewd, acute, sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle, canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff, tactful, diplomatic, politic, polite, cunningly, slyly, slily, on the sly, by a side wind, diamond cut diamond, a' bis ou a blanc, fin contre fin, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Inhabitant

N inhabitant, resident, residentiary, dweller, indweller, addressee, occupier, occupant, householder, lodger, inmate, tenant, incumbent, sojourner, locum tenens, commorant, settler, squatter, backwoodsman, colonist, islander, denizen, citizen, burgher, oppidan, cockney, cit, townsman, burgess, villager, cottager, cottier, cotter, compatriot, backsettler, boarder, hotel keeper, innkeeper, habitant, paying guest, planter, native, indigene, aborigines, autochthones, Englishman, John Bull, newcomer, aboriginal, American, Caledonian, Cambrian, Canadian, Canuck, downeaster, Scot, Scotchman, Hibernian, Irishman, Welshman, Uncle Sam, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, garrison, crew, population, people, colony, settlement, household, mir, indigenous, native, natal, autochthonal, autochthonous, British, English, American, Canadian, Irish, Scotch, Scottish, Welsh, domestic, domiciliated, domiciled, naturalized, vernacular, domesticated, domiciliary, in the occupation of, garrisoned by, occupied by.