Word.ws English Dictionary

yark

/jɑːk/

yark verb: to make ready; prepare.

Verb (1)

yark (third-person singular simple present yarks, present participle yarking, simple past and past participle yarked)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To make ready; prepare.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To dispose; be set in order for; be destined or intended for.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To set open; open.

Verb (2)

yark (third-person singular simple present yarks, present participle yarking, simple past and past participle yarked)

  1. (transitive) To bind or draw (especially leather or stitches) tight.
    • [...] Yet thou hast given us leather to yark, and leather to bark, [...]1881, Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland
  2. (transitive) To hit, strike, especially with a cane or whip.
  3. (transitive) To crack (a whip).
    • he would throw a Dagger, and make a whip to yarke and lash [tr. faisoit craqueter], as cunningly as any Carter in France., Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.96

Forms of yark

third-person singular presentyarks
present participleyarking
past participleyarked
pastyarked
alternative formyerk

Origin of yark

From Middle English ȝarken, ȝerken, from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”), Proto-West Germanic *garwakōn, equivalent to yare + -k. Related to Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”), ġearu (“prepared, ready, equipped, complete, finished, yare”). More at yare.

Uncertain, probably originally imitative; compare jerk, etc.

Words formed from yark

Words that rhyme with yark

28 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about yark

What does yark mean?
Yark means to make ready; prepare.
What part of speech is yark?
Yark is a verb.
How do you pronounce yark?
Yark is pronounced /jɑːk/ (UK).
What is the past tense of yark?
The past tense of yark is yarked.

Words near yark in the dictionary

  1. yari
  2. yari-yari
  3. Yariba
  4. Yarilo
  5. Yarimar
  6. yark
  7. Yarkand
  8. Yarkandi
  9. Yarkant
  10. yarke
  11. yarked

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: yark (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-yark.wav.

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